Sorry for the very, very late reply. I don’t blog here anymore (you may visit me at ALAS FILIPINAS(http://alasfilipinas.blogspot.com) and FILIPINO eSCRIBBLES (http://filipinoscribbles.wordpress.com).

I do not know the origin of “kulot salot”. But one thing’s for sure: the Spaniards didn’t have anything to do with it. For one reason: “kulot salot” is Tagalog.

Regards,

Pepe Alas

Regarding progress, I would like to elaborate. The Igorot homeland may be one of the depressed areas but I’ll tell you why. It’s simply because the maintream Filipino people have “progressed” at our expense. When the Philippines have started to interfere with our culture(through forced assimilation) and ancestral homeland, most have led to disaster. You think those “projects” were beneficial for us? No, it only benefited those from the lowlands. Many were displaced in their own lands when mines and dams were erected. Good thing that the Marcos’ proposed projects along the Chico river(which aimed to generate power to the Cagayan Valley) were put to stop or else, it would have displaced 300,000 people(that’s nearly half of the Igorot population during those times)! But hey, despite us having one of the lowest(even lower than what the ARMM get) “share” in the national income, our poverty rate is lower than that of the Bicol Region, who obviously, get a bigger share. I tell you, even the prominent Ibaloi families in Baguio could not get back their their ancestral lands even they have complete documents to prove that they indeed own the area… what more for those living the rural places? The hegemony(which most likely you inherited from your former “masters“) of the “maintream” Filipinos are the ones pushing the indigenous and non-hispanized people to poverty, not their indigenous culture. (You even stole some of our mummies. When Benguet opened to tourism in the 60’s, 80 mummies in Kabayan were stolen, 40 are still missing up to date).
PEPE: What the heck had the Spaniards got to do with all this?

TAMSILOG: I don’t think Romulo was simply “namimilosopo”.
PEPE: I think he was.

TAMSILOG: It’s more of like, he can’t admit that certain indigenous people exist in a land fabled with gold.
PEPE: He wasn’t. Nobody, not even himself, was pressuring him to do so.

TAMSILOG: Of course, the Philippines wouldn’t just “let go” of the Igorot domain because it contains large amounts of mineral deposits. Romulo was in office after the WW2, so most likely the he didn’t mean it culturally or even religiously, but in the whole context – even as citizens. Just look at the “projects” they have done in the Igorot homeland. it doesn’t matter to them even if it is at the expense of the inhabitants of the area.
PEPE: Like what I wrote earlier, don’t feel special. All of us are victims here: the Ifugaos, the Tagalos, Bicolanos, Mañguianes, etc… it is purely vile to blame all this evil to a particular culture.
Well, admittedly I’m doing the same thing towards the US. But, look, it’s what the US has been doing since they invaded the Philippines. After colonizing us, they taught our forefathers that time to hate our Spanish past, by using Rizal’s seemingly “anti-Spanish”writing, making an obscure “Lapu-lapu” a national hero, etc. The attack on a certain culture, particularly la cultura española, started from them. I’m just giving them a dose of their own medicine for our posterity’s sake because seemingly no one from my generation is doing it. And it’s heartbreaking.

TAMSILOG: Discrimination towards the Igorots is still rampant. In schools, when someone is seen wearing the bahag during the “linggo ng wika”, he is teased and being called as “nefut”, “headhunter”. Or in Universities, it’s not common to hear that lowlanders, upon attending Universities in Baguio, are “warned” to be wary of the Igorots because they are “barbaric”. It gets funny when you realize the discrimination happens in the Igorot domain. They must have forgotten that Baguio is very much part of the Igorot homeland. Of course, the Igorot, who wish to counter the discrimination would pride himself as the “unconquered”(just as much as the Muslims in the south, most especially the radical ones, pride themselves as not being the “converts”).
PEPE: Discrimination is everywhere, chong. Even some Spanish peninsulars during the Philippines’ glory days couldn’t help but discriminate the Filipinos/Insulars that time. See? I admit that there were evils during the Spanish times. You can never remove them. As long as you’re on this planet, as long as we live here, evil remains. Evil has been here since time immemorial. And it will remain long after we’re gone. The least we can do is to fight it. And the most you can do is to stop pretending that your tribe is pure. Because even though you don’t mention it, that’s the underlying argument that you have. And that’s a bunch of lowland crap if you ask me, chong.

TAMSILOG: But the question is, how many percent of the population were actually integrated and recognized as “Filipinos”?
PEPE: I forgot the exact figures (I’m at the office, my sources are at home, and I don’t have a computer. damn). But mostly, those who were hispanized were, you guessed it, the lowlanders.

TAMSILOG: At a large number, the natives were illiterate and more people were concentrated in the rural areas rather than in areas where commerce was active.
PEPE: The way things were all over the world. One English observer, I think it was Sir John Bowring, even noted that there were more literate people in Manila compared to many European cities he had been to. And yes, many natives at the beginning of Spanish rule didn’t immediately left their rural origins, especially due to a social fear of culture shock. However, during later years, migration to commercially bustling cities became rampant. This was especially true in the province of Batangas. And sadly, the same thing is happening in your place. Many Ifugaos today, hungry for Western literacy and, of course, to escape poverty, would rather move to Metro Manila or to any urbanized/commercialized site than rather stay behind their rural areas. Thus, the Eighth Wonder of the World, the Banaue Rice Terraces, is in danger of being abandoned and naturally destroyed. Is that the kind of progress you have in mind?

TAMSILOG: Thinking again, since there exist a social and political discrimination between the Peninsulares and Insulares, it could be possible that the concept of Filipino was fostered more by political reasons rather than a nationalistic one.
PEPE: One day, I will discuss to you the true concept of a Filipino. Not my concept nor the concept of any scholar nor historian. I will bring to you the concept of a Filipino from one of the first Filipinos himself… EL CONDE FILIPINO. But that would be for another day. Isá pá, gutóm na acó.

Maligayang bagong taón nga palá sa mañgá tagá-Ifugáo.

TAMSILOG: We’re not as barbaric as the Spaniards want you to perceive us.
PEPE: Dream on. Maciado mo namáng quinacawawa ang lahi mo. Will you please stop this self-pity antics of yours? Ang corny, chong. The Spaniards never taught the lowlanders to perceive the indios as barbaric. I don’t even know what notion of the term “barbaric” you have in mind. Please share it to us “lowlanders” about this “barbarism” you know that we don’t.

TAMSILOG: Headhunting in the highlands is not as common as the “chop chop” trend you have in the lowlands particularly in the Manila area.
PEPE: ¡Uy! ¡Nagmalinís! Para palá cayóng mañgá ángel dian sa Ifugaolandia. Paraiso sa lupa. Grabe. Nacácainguit. Might as well be an Ifugao myself. Hahaha.

That’s why most of the time, I hate arguments. No matter how overwhelmed your opponent is, they’ll always try to find ways to save their pride.

First of all, I’m NOT overemphasizing the Spanish cultural influence. It’s everywhere, chong, so there’s no need to. It’s just very gross not to admit that you’re not Hispanophobic when it really shows.

TAMSILOG: You seem to have the typical arrogant mentality that exist in most lowlanders… name calling. What is with that, really?).
PEPE: Are you referring to how I made fun of your pseudonym Tamsilog? Well, if that really doesn’t mean a thing, I don’t see any “name-calling” incident here. It just really reminds us “lowlanders” of a favorite pares breakfast, y’know. But if Tamsilog is a native Ifugao name, then I sincerely apologize. There’s no need to ATTACK the lowlanders because I do not represent them the way you imagine yourself representing your people.

TAMSILOG: Overemphasis of this one is very dangerous. It even has resulted to the IMSCF Syndrome(although non-academic – example: http://sibuyas.panalangin.net/?page_id=3). Another danger is how these people tend to think they are “more civilized” than the mountain people. Some Filipinos even think they’re better than other SEAsian nations because they were largely influenced by Westerners compared to let’s say Indonesia and Malaysia.
PEPE: I couldn’t agree less. So what’s your problem, man?

TAMSILOG: I assume you are the Pepe Alas at the gov.ph forum.
PEPE: Yes I am. You got a problem with that, punk?! O, biro lang, chong. Talo ang picón…

TAMSILOG: You sound very Americanophobic(as much as I sound Hispanophobic to you).
PEPE: DON’T YOU ACCUSE ME OF SOUNDING VERY AMERICANOPHOBIC! I DO NOT SOUND LIKE ONE!!! BECAUSE I REALLY AM!!! But seriously, chong, I am solely against their foreign policies, not really with the Northern American people themselves, OK?

TAMSILOG: You just have to reread your posts over there.
PEPE: No way, dude. It’s YOU who would have to reread my posts. And take away your blind hispanophobic rage even for just one hot minute while you’re reading them. PLEASE.

TAMSILOG: Your posts sounded as if the Spanish were “better” colonizers. None was better than the other.
PEPE: Yes, the Spaniards were much better “rulers.” And mind you, the word “colonization” has a different meaning, a different connotation is Spanish compared to your beloved English definition. Unfortunately, you would have to study Spanish to understand what I mean.

TAMSILOG: Not even the Japanese who notoriously discouraged the use of English.
PEPE: The Japanese did discourage the use of English. But, haha, not “notoriously”. Another haha here.

TAMSILOG: Yep, it is not uncommon that Igorots brag about how their were hardly conquered in the past.
PEPE: ?????????????

TAMSILOG: But this rarely to do with the Spanish Conquest of the “Philippines”. It’s more of countering the discrimination by the lowlanders. How do they view the mountain people? Nakabahag(in a degratory manner), headhunters, barbaric, uncivilized…
PEPE: Provided sources, documents, etc. But until then, all I have to do is yawn and scratch my armpits…

TAMSILOG: Just because the “pambansang kasuotan” are barong and baro’t saya, they’ve forgotten that their ancestors wore the same clothings that the Igorots have.
PEPE: “They’ve forgotten.” They’ve forgotten, huh? Of course, you’re referring to “Filipinos” here. No doubt about it, yes, the ”
kind of “Filipinos” taught to you in the classrooms and not the historical “Filipino” as conceptualized by Luis Rodríguez Varela et al. Sigh.

TAMSILOG: This is also due to the fact that despite the Spanish being able to militarily penetrate the highlands(even in Ifugao and Apayao) after 2.5 centuries of failed attempts, hardly were the natives subdued despite the fact too that the Igorots lived in small villages and are not really numerous.
PEPE: Subduing your people then was admittedly a mistake. There’s no need to since the Spanish government taught it extremely difficult to reach out to your people due to the unstrategically high altitude of the Ifugao territory. “Subduing” your people, whatever you meant by that, were left to the responsibility of the friars who still failed to do so. And since the friars came into the picture, obviously, we would have to x out military intrusions here.

TAMSILOG: Some books even sight that there was a partial decline in the population due to small pox brought about by either the lowlanders or some Spanish officials/clergy.
PEPE: So what is exactly the point here? That the Spaniards of yore were bioterrorists? Tsk.

TAMSILOG: Of course, just as much as the Muslims in the south, it’s a source of pride. The Igorots were not even called indios as opposed to the lowlanders. They were referred to as “independent tribes.”
PEPE: Independent tribes or indios or natives or Tribal Fishes (¿nasaán na silá? Naaah, just thinkin’ aloud) or whatever you call them, they are all the same to the Spanish eye — indios.

TAMSILOG: You seem to be unanimously equating Filipino culture to Spanish culture.
PEPE: That’s your opinion. no culture is equal to another. I was just trying to show the influences, the influences, the doggone influences of those bloody Spaniards to our multifarious islandic cultures which the Europeans at that time saw as backward. Which, in cultural standards of decay and improvement and comfortability and ease, were damn true.

TAMSILOG: I remember your post about pancit. You were even trying to make it appear that it were a “Spanish influence” when it’s clearly Chinese.
PEPE: Ay. Ang culít. Paquibasa na nga lang yung palitan namin ng argumento ni caibigang Chris Sundita. Ang culít mo casí, e.

Regarding progress, I would like to elaborate. The Igorot homeland may be one of the depressed areas but I’ll tell you why. It’s simply because the maintream Filipino people have “progressed” at our expense. When the Philippines have started to interfere with our culture(through forced assimilation) and ancestral homeland, most have led to disaster. You think those “projects” were beneficial for us? No, it only benefited those from the lowlands. Many were displaced in their own lands when mines and dams were erected. Good thing that the Marcos’ proposed projects along the Chico river(which aimed to generate power to the Cagayan Valley) were put to stop or else, it would have displaced 300,000 people(that’s nearly half of the Igorot population during those times)! But hey, despite us having one of the lowest(even lower than what the ARMM get) “share” in the national income, our poverty rate is lower than that of the Bicol Region, who obviously, get a bigger share. I tell you, even the prominent Ibaloi families in Baguio could not get back their their ancestral lands even they have complete documents to prove that they indeed own the area… what more for those living the rural places? The hegemony(which most likely you inherited from your former “masters“) of the “maintream” Filipinos are the ones pushing the indigenous and non-hispanized people to poverty, not their indigenous culture. (You even stole some of our mummies. When Benguet opened to tourism in the 60’s, 80 mummies in Kabayan were stolen, 40 are still missing up to date).

I don’t think Romulo was simply “namimilosopo”. It’s more of like, he can’t admit that certain indigenous people exist in a land fabled with gold. Of course, the Philippines wouldn’t just “let go” of the Igorot domain because it contains large amounts of mineral deposits. Romulo was in office after the WW2, so most likely the he didn’t mean it culturally or even religiously, but in the whole context – even as citizens. Just look at the “projects” they have done in the Igorot homeland. it doesn’t matter to them even if it is at the expense of the inhabitants of the area.

Discrimination towards the Igorots is still rampant. In schools, when someone is seen wearing the bahag during the “linggo ng wika”, he is teased and being called as “nefut”, “headhunter”. Or in Universities, it’s not common to hear that lowlanders, upon attending Universities in Baguio, are “warned” to be wary of the Igorots because they are “barbaric”. It gets funny when you realize the discrimination happens in the Igorot domain. They must have forgotten that Baguio is very much part of the Igorot homeland. Of course, the Igorot, who wish to counter the discrimination would pride himself as the “unconquered”(just as much as the Muslims in the south, most especially the radical ones, pride themselves as not being the “converts”).

********

But the question is, how many percent of the population were actually integrated and recognized as “Filipinos”? At a large number, the natives were illiterate and more people were concentrated in the rural areas rather than in areas where commerce was active. Thinking again, since there exist a social and political discrimination between the Peninsulares and Insulares, it could be possible that the concept of Filipino was fostered more by political reasons rather than a nationalistic one.

Yes. Removing the lowlander and the national government’s oppression. We’re not as barbaric as the Spaniards want you to perceive us. Headhunting in the highlands is not as common as the “chop chop” trend you have in the lowlands particularly in the Manila area.

My bad. Cite, I mean

First of all, I’m NOT Hispanophobic. It’s just very gross to be overemphasizing the Spanish cultural influence. You seem to have the typical arrogant mentality that exist in most lowlanders… name calling. What is with that, really?).

Overemphasis of this one is very dangerous. It even has resulted to the IMSCF Syndrome(although non-academic – example: http://sibuyas.panalangin.net/?page_id=3). Another danger is how these people tend to think they are “more civilized” than the mountain people. Some Filipinos even think they’re better than other SEAsian nations because they were largely influenced by Westerners compared to let’s say Indonesia and Malaysia.

I assume you are the Pepe Alas at the gov.ph forum. You sound very Americanophobic(as much as I sound Hispanophobic to you). You just have to reread your posts over there. Your posts sounded as if the Spanish were “better” colonizers. None was better than the other. Not even the Japanese who notoriously discouraged the use of English.

Yep, it is not uncommon that Igorots brag about how their were hardly conquered in the past. But this rarely to do with the Spanish Conquest of the “Philippines”. It’s more of countering the discrimination by the lowlanders. How do they view the mountain people? Nakabahag(in a degratory manner), headhunters, barbaric, uncivilized… Just because the “pambansang kasuotan” are barong and baro’t saya, they’ve forgotten that their ancestors wore the same clothings that the Igorots have. This is also due to the fact that despite the Spanish being able to militarily penetrate the highlands(even in Ifugao and Apayao) after 2.5 centuries of failed attempts, hardly were the natives subdued despite the fact too that the Igorots lived in small villages and are not really numerous. Some books even sight that there was a partial decline in the population due to small pox brought about by either the lowlanders or some Spanish officials/clergy. Of course, just as much as the Muslims in the south, it’s a source of pride. The Igorots were not even called indios as opposed to the lowlanders. They were referred to as “independent tribes”.

You seem to be unanimously equating Filipino culture to Spanish culture. I remember your post about pancit. You were even trying to make it appear that it were a “Spanish influence” when it’s clearly Chinese.

Excellent reasoning in your blog, using appropriate historical facts and enlightening observations to explain the truth about the Filipino identity.

From reading your message, it seems that most indigenous culture activists in the Philippines are completely brainwashed about the implications of the Spanish colonial period. In fact not just those activists, but I would say a vast majority of Filipinos are completely MISLED about the relevance of the colonial period and its consequences for the development of the Philippine nation.

The yanks have done a good job in totally brainwashing the Philippine conscience upto the point where many Filipinos actually “hate themselves” so to speak, meaning they reject a good chunk of their cultural heritage and identity. Ask any Filipino what they think about the Spanish colonial period, and you’ll probably get “terrible” as the answer in 90% of the cases. And they are actually convinced! Such a fatuous LIE is completely embedded into their conscience!

Well, if you think that these lies are spoonfed to Filipinos since
early childhood, it will not surprise you that they are rooted in
their brains to such an extent. Let us hope that with enlightening messages, articles and blogs such as yours, many of them will soon wake up from such an absurd and mistaken state of mind.

Saludos,

Javier R.