Anti-Igorot sentiments from a “true” (?) Filipino

Friday, September 17, 2010

I’m being lured out of my longest blogging hiatus by an anonymous poster in a recent Igorot blog. In his blog, Writings by an American Igorot, author Rex Delson had a post regarding his first novel titled “IGOROTAK: The Warrior Within”. A poster with alias “A True Proud Filipino” went off-topic and belittled the Igorot people. I’m fine with fellow Pinoys being ignorant about the Igorots. The proper response is to provide information. What I can’t stand are people who flaunt their ignorance and look down on others. This post, my first in more than six months is my response to that poster’s comments (in red text and quoted). To respond to such a post, I’d gone down, way down, but heck, I had fun writing it. Hope this little post will start to motivate me to update my blog more often, as I did in the past.


“Go ahead and teach your own people about your heritage, but if this book is attempting to portray igorots as equals to real filipinos I think this is a stupid thing.”

Igorots are not real Filipinos? So, majority of the folks in the CORDILLERA REGION of NORTHERN PHILIPPINES are not Filipinos? This would include Baguio City, the summer capital of the Philippines whose mayor is an Igorot. The fact is, Igorots are real Filipinos, whether or not some misguided, uneducated, anonymous online poster who obviously has deep insecurities say otherwise. You’re the stupid one.

“There is a reason why igorots are barely covered in our educational books in schools in the philippines. It's because they are not worthy of the filipino name.”

Not true. My eldest was homeschooled as a first grader in the Philippines. He was using a Filipino textbook for his Social Studies class and yes, I remember that it had a section on who is a Filipino or not. Among the groups mentioned are Igorots, Muslims, and Tagalogs. Go back and get an education, start with first grade.

“You pride yourselves as not being conquered by Spain, but I pride myself as being conquered by Spain because without them my ancestors would have stayed uneducated and uncivilized and there would be a nation of people still running around in loin clothes today.”

This is laughable. Thailand was never conquered by any country. It’s in a much better state than the Philippines. Read Rizal’s major works, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo so you could get an idea on what it was like during the Spanish rule. Women were raped, majority of the locals were oppressed including children, and people were kept uneducated. The Spaniards referred to the colonized people as “Indio”. Please go and research on how derogatory a term that was.

My professor at UP-Diliman stated that a lot of social problems in the Philippines today are a direct result of Spanish colonization. Our society’s addiction to showbiz? It’s a manner of escape. Generations of your ancestors would have gone through their lives under almost 400 years of Spanish rule having little or no hope at all. The manyana habit? Why strive today when there’s not much to strive for. Why do we have a lot of showbiz personalities elected? We, Filipinos, are continually looking for a hero ala Bong Revilla / Lito Lapid to liberate us from our dire circumstances. Here’s a thought – I’m 100% sure your ancestors would have opted for anything other than being conquered by Spain.

“But thanks to Spain, we are now educated, smart, civilized and even better looking today.”

No, you’re not.

Better looking? Intermarriage between Spaniards and the locals were not very common. Rape was.

“You don't see igorots on the popular filipino shows today do you? When it comes to great minds like Rizal or big achievers like Pacquiao, you won't find Igorots.”

Popular Filipino shows? Ummm – let’s not get there. There are some showbiz personalities with Igorot ancestry but what has being in a popular show have something to with being a true Filipino? Let’s not be shallow shall we? Filipina heroine Gabriela Silang was part Igorot. It would be impossible to have an Igorot Rizal because again, the Igorots were not conquered by the Spaniards. Rizal’s works were a product of the Spanish oppression of our country. However, Igorots, my grandfather included, helped Americans liberate the Philippines from Japan. See General MacArthur praised Igorot Soldiers during WW2.

“I rest my case.”

You never had one to begin with.

9 comments:

John September 17, 2010 at 5:52 PM  

O sige, patulan na rin natin ng kababawan. Here're showbiz people in popular shows with Igorot lineage:

1. Bert Nievera is part Kalinga. He's Martin's dad.
2. Jed Montero's parents are from Mountain Province.
3. Miss Philippines in the early 2000s, the intelligent lawyer with family name Andam, is a Baguio Igorot.
4. Marky Cielo won Starstruck and he was proud of his Igorot roots.
5. Another Starstruck finalist after Marky is an Igorot from Lepanto.
6. Eva Padilla - mom of Robin - has Igorot roots.
7. Alma Moreno is from Cervantes, Ilocos Sur and has Igorot lineage.
8. The opera singer, the finalist from Baguio in the Philippines Got Talent is a Benguet Igorot.
9. Angel Aquino has Igorot ancestry.
10. Gwen Garci's mom is an Igorot from Mountain Province.

I'm sure marami pa. Di lang natin alam lahat. Ang point is, BOBO lang talaga itong si “A True Proud Filipino”. Mahiya ka nga sa balat mo. You have nothing to be proud off. If you really are Filipino, you're a shame to our people.

Sagada Igorot September 17, 2010 at 7:19 PM  

John - thanks. You're hilarious. But, you made your point. I still feel that it's very nincompoop-ish to disregard Igorots as Filipinos just because they don't have representatives in "popular" shows.

Anonymous September 18, 2010 at 1:05 PM  

A lot of Filipinos are so into showbiz. So, the big news in showbiz right now is a famous actor and actress are hospitalized because of a "captured penis". Is that really something to be proud of?

Sagada Igorot September 18, 2010 at 4:45 PM  

@Anonymous September 18, 2010 1:44 AM:

- Didn't know about Robin Padilla getting married in the Igorot manner. But, isn't he married already?

@Anonymous September 18, 2010 1:05 PM:

- That's absolutely disgusting. Kaneg obpay aso? (Like a dog?) Captured ***** - Not sure that's the right term.

Igorot from Benguet September 20, 2010 at 7:51 PM  

Why is it that when other people criticize the Igorots, we respond very defensively? Within our group, we are also critical of ourselves. Maybe the others have a point. Not that I agree with the post of this "true Filipino".

Rexcrisanto L. Delson September 29, 2010 at 9:22 PM  

@ Sagada Igorot . . . very eliquently said!

@ Igorot from Benguet . . . yeah there's some truth to that, but I still think if we Igorots numbered the non-Igorot Filipino population here in the States; we would definately have some Igorot towns (like Chinatown, Little Korea, etc) because we tend to look after each other much better than other Pinoy . . . this is one thing we Igorots can be proud of. And yeah, everyone has a point, but some need to let their hair grow long so nobody would ever see their point :)

From Bacolod September 29, 2010 at 9:56 PM  

All - not sure why we have a lot of comments pertaining to Igorots not being in showbiz. If there is one field that we don't need to excel at - that would be entertainment. I'd rather have Igorots (or other Pinoys) be good engineers, educators, researchers, scientists, administrators, doctors, and entrepeneurs than be good entertainers. Let's face it - Philippine showbiz is not really something to be proud of. Sure, there are top talents, but majority of those in the industry are all face with very few brains.

Anonymous February 25, 2011 at 12:36 AM  

@ John

I didn't know that Zora is an Igorot.

No, I don't think Angel Aquino has Igorot ancestry but her children have. Her ex-husband is an Igorot.

There was this cute Hamada boy in the mid-90's who had a TV commercial for Penshoppe. I think the name is Derrick or Jeric Hamada.

Unknown February 12, 2015 at 4:30 PM  

not happy with life? igorots dont have much time with thick make ups and that sort of thing, sexy thing, what ever, cept for some who have paved the way to that industry naturally. am a little bit dísmayed, that being in the film industry is not something to be proud off. am not saying to react, am saying help you, who ever is that author of that article, and atleast in my own little way help you understand that we igorots have here that we dont need to show off! and I beg.