Ancestral Lands

 “City Mayor Lauds Nullification by NCIP of Spurious CALTS”

That’s the title I gave the story about the nullification of the ‘spurious’ CALTs issued by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples by the NCIP itself.

It is a very sad news for people who are working on the recognition of their land claims by the body that was promised to help them with their land problems that began after the Americans started reserving lands in their territory for various purposes.  And earlier too when the Spaniards will not give certificates of title to lands possessed by the Igorots for the reason that they have not yet identified the areas they want to reserve for government purposes.

Once when I started working with some people who were struggling for the recognition of their ancestrals, I was told that the whole Benguet land was surveyed in the name of my great-grandfather.  And he identified portions thereof for his children, who, unfortunately were mostly women. 

Parts of the land that I was told was surveyed in my great-grandfather’s name, and which my informants said were my great-grandfather’s land have become lands for the public such as the Wright Park and its adjoining areas, the United States Military Reservation which included the Camp John Hay, the Export Processing Zone, the airport, and the Philippine Military Reservation.

Sad to say, I cannot find documents to support that story, and I was not able to have the informants document their story before they died.

 I did however see a sketch of land that identified the area claimed by the late Mateo Carino for his daughter Josefa and whose surrounding areas were marked as Tierras de los Igorottes de Loakan, Tierra del Igorotte Mateo Carantes, Tierra del Igorotte Pisla, Tierra del Igorotte Piraso.

The land identified as Tierra del Igorotte Mateo Carino is the land where the CAP Building and other buildings now stand, even I believe, the area now known as the Scout Barrio.  The place was known as Embanao

Which means wide

The land identified as Tierra del Igorotte Piraso is on the west side of the land where the CAP Building is.  There is no boundary marked on the west side of that land identified as the land of the Igorot Piraso, but from what my mother told me as to where her father and his wife by a second marriage once lived before the Americans came, I believe that the late Piraso and his clan, the Baticalang clan did own in the native parlance that land that included the land where the Vallejo Hotel now stands. 

My late grandfather and his wife Solicam Baticalang once lived on that land where the Baguio Cathedral now stands.  Solicam was the sister of Piraso and Pinaoan.  Piraso was an Igorotte leader at the end of the 19^th century and beginning of the 20^th century.

Pinaoan was the father of Molintas who was appointed a president of the township of Baguio in the first decade of the 20^th century. 

 The Baticalang Clan lived and some descendants still live in the areas surrounding the Jungletown where the Vallejo Hotel now is.

 Josephine Abanag who has been claiming the Wright Park area claimed it on the basis of her relationship with the Pirasos.  She once told me that she land she was claiming was the portion of Samay Piraso, the cousin of her grandfather Molintas.  Samay had no direct heirs.  She claimed to be the heir of Samay Piraso in lieu of the child she (Samay) never had.

The other area on the southeast side of the land that Mateo Carino fought for even up to the United States Supreme Court was the land of the Igorots Pisla which I believe should have been written as Pistola and I believe that that was what my late cousin Solomon Carantes believed too because he had it surveyed in the name of our cousin John Sho’dang.  And I think he did not just believe it.  He knew it was so.  My father once said he used to plant bananas there when he was very young.

The north and northeast side of the land the late Mateo Carino fought for were marked as the Tierra del Igorotte Mateo Carantes.

 Once, when the lands around the now Airport area were being surveyed for issuance of Free Patents, the late Mateo Carantes reportedly replaced the name of Ugasya which his brother in law placed as the owner of that parcel of land where the EPZA and MOOG buildings now stand.  He argued that the new law says it should be the name of the man to be placed as the owner of the land.

 His act made his brother-in-law comment thus “Dja gwara I inta’djun Bahag dja bu’day shi Doakan?  Is there a (parcel of) land that Bahag brought to Loakan?  Bahag was the name used by the late Mateo Carantes reportedly they were evading capture because of their joining the Aguinaldo group.

The John Hay area is still part of the old Doakan.  And I believe that that parcel of land marked as the land of the late Mateo Carantes is part of the land surveyed earlier in the name of Kalias, the father of Ugasya who became the wife of Mateo Carantes, Dingbey who became the wife of Molintas Pinaoan, Bayas who married Tekel and in whose name that part of Loakan where the late Kalias built his first house in Loakan was titled in 1910 for the reason that the late Bayas was no longer around because of death leaving her a widow before the Americans came, Mayshas who was a Mrs. Abodiles before her death sometime in the first decade of the 1900s, Bogan whom her husband Bangcoyao left a widow in the early 1900s, Pot-og who was bitten by a snake when he was a teen-ager, and Tagdi whose portion of Kalias’ land was taken by his ‘ex- father- in- law as penalty for his leaving his first wife Josefa Carino. 

That story about the late Tagdi or Tagley has not been a favorite topic of the Tagley family for quite some time.  It was only after I joined a group of ancestral land claimants that a blood relative on my father’s side and a relative by affinity on my mother’s side (if Baticalang was not a relative of Kalias) told me that the land which the late Carino fought for was the land of the man who left his wife who was a daughter of the late Mateo Carino.

I asked my mother about it.  She said yes, her father married Josefa because her mother Bayosa always let her attend to another person’s baby thus giving them no time to consummate their marriage.  He felt that Bayosa did not like him to marry Josefa.  So he left.

Before they got married, he tilled her land, that part which is now the Athletic Bowl.  He brought his carabao there to help him serve his ‘lady love.

When he could not make their marriage work, he left with his carabao, and married Solicam instead.  They lived where the Baguio Cathedral now stands.  Solicam had her first baby there.  She was also going to have her second baby there, but when the Americans arrived, she and her husband left for that portion of the family land where the Bell Church now stands.  The place was called Bisil because it was sandy.  Bisil is Ibaloi for sand.

When he learned from the Americans that it is not good for close relatives to marry, he was thankful because, as my old cousin on my mother’s side once said, ‘Kasinsin nen Tagdi si Bayosa. 

 When my mother’s sister got married to a son of the late Josefa, her brother-in-law reportedly told her “Ah, si’khayo I engitudoy ni eg etuloy”

Ah, you are the ones who continued what was not continued, or pursued. 

 Despite what happened, the late Tagdi did not harbor bad feelings against the girl/woman he was asked to marry at a young age.  He even reportedly helped her son go to law school.

These details made me believe that what the grand old man Caoi said about the area reserved for the United States Military Reservation was the land of the late Kalias, even the lands now known as Loakan Proper, Liwanag, Apugan, and its surrounding area.  The late Caoi Binay-an called Kalias as the founder of Loakan.

My late mother learned from her father that when Kalias found Loakan, he called his cousin Bay-osan, and a young man named Batil and together, they turned the swamp that is now the landing field for airplanes into a rice land. 

When the Americans, the descendants of the three men, Kalias, Bay-osan and Batil had the lands they planted to agricultural plans patented. 

The lands in Loakan were the first ancestral lands titled.  They were the free lands of the natives that the United States of America granted Certificates of Title to after the Benguet Igorots hounded the office of the late Governor William A. Pack “singly and by delegation” to ask for the return of their lands that the US government proclaimed as public lands as soon as they came to the Philippines.    To be continued.  B.T.Pistola

 

B.T. Pistola
 
(Authority to repost given by Author)
 
Published:
Volume 1, No 20
TNT, Baguio City, Philippines
November 30, 2014
https://thenortherntribune.blogspot.com/
 
 

Shiyayak Mango

 For lack of time, I am not able to write much about the place where Ibalois are at the moment.

I am just happy to see that the Ibalois are not very much the ‘shiyayak mango’ type that has been misread “Shyak mango’ for quite a time due to the shyness or timidity of the Ibalois.  

Of course, the shiyayak mango phrase is often uttered by the Ibalois who, due to some inferiority complexes, opt to stay in the sidelines when issues are being discussed because they feel inconsequential.  So they say “shiyayak mango” meaning “I will just stay here”.  This is not the exact meaning of the phrase.  I have not yet found the correct English term for it.  But it is akin to the statement of a lowly man who says “I am but a lowly man so I will stay here where I will not be in the way of the gods”.  

Many Ibalois do not like to be in the fore front,  that is why there are not so many Ibalois running for political positions in the City of Baguio.  There were some who tried, and most of them were descendants of Kumicho who was a descendant of Milo and his son (Am)Kidit.  And they were and/or no longer FBI’s or full blooded Ibalois.  One who aspired for mayorship had a lot of Japanese blood in his veins; some who aspired for councillorship had Spanish and Iloko blood in them.

A lot of the old Ibalois   also do not like arguing so much as politicians do.  They preferred to work without talking much.  Hence their distaste of politics.    Some of course are very shy.  The cats seem to ‘get’ their tongues when they try to talk.  So they remain silent.  And they would later say “Piyan ko’n ikuwan ni saman pesing, ngem bimaingak”.  “I wanted to tell how it should be done but I got shy”.

Ayo.  Saman ira i Ibaloi.  Mavabaing.  That’s how Ibalois  are.  They are shy. 

The latter part of the 20th century however has seen some Ibalois  getting to be more forward, and not very shy anymore.   But now, the FBI’s are getting fewer and fewer with a good number of them getting married to men or women from other tribes because they have learned that it is not good for relatives to marry each other.  Some still do of course.  And some prefer to marry fellow Ibalois.  

But a good number have been getting married to men or women who are Ilocanoes, Tagalogs, Pangasinense, Kankanais, Ibontocs, Ikalingas, Ifugaos, and others.  So we have Ibalocs, Ibatags, Ibapangs, Kanibals, Ibabon, Ibafug, and what have you.

Sooner, or later, we will just have Filipinos because it will be difficult to combine the letters of so many tribes from where our parents or the parents of our descendants will come from. If we did that, we might have so many smaller tribes of Kanibaltags like my apo whose father is a Tagalog and whose mother is a Kanibal, or Kankanai-Ibaloi.  The other one is a Visibalkan or Kanibalvis because his father is a Visayan and his mother is a Kanibal.

Some of us say we may be the last generation of FBI’s.  But when somebody says my grandfather was Spanish, my great grandma was dark skinned with a long nose, and that I have Chinese blood in my veins, and I learn that my relatives have Russian blood in their veins, and that one says her grandma may have been a descendant of some small Englishmen of old, etc. etc., I tell myself that we may not be FBI’s anymore.  The last FBI may have been in the distant past, the brave warriors that the Conquistador Quirante was not able to subdue way back in the 1600s.  But then a writer wrote that the Kidit of Quirante’s time was Mandarin-like. And I have been wondering why my late father whose father descended from a Kidit would sometimes look like a Chinese of the Mandarin type.   A Chinese woman once told me also, after seeing my handwriting, pointed at me, and told me that I have Chinese blood.  So much for the last of the FBI’s.  Basta we are ibalois. B.T. Pistola 

The Dead Become Gods

As the people celebrating the day of the dead go to the cemeteries to do so, a good number of Ibalois do not.  This is because they did not bring their dead loved ones to the cemeteries, or they brought home from the cemeteries the bones thereof.

Because of this, they do not contribute to the heavy traffic in the Central Business District, or Baguio (Ba-giw).  They also do not form part of the crowd in the cemeteries. 

This is because the non-christian Ibalois of old did not believe that the dead are unconsciousness.  To them, the dead have become gods.  Enkirios ira, as some say it.  Or enkishiyos ira, as others do.

The younger Ibalois who have become Catholics do still believe in the old concepts.   That is why they still keep their dead in a special place inside their houses, or under their floors, or in their front or back yards. 

Some of those who brought their dead to the cemeteries bring home the bones thereof, especially when they dream that their dead loved ones  are in need of shelter, or blankets, or other things that they enjoyed while alive as human beings.

And because of their act of bringing home the bones of their loved ones, or their not bringing to the cemeteries the remains of their loved ones, they have waived their rights to free burial at the cemeteries reserved for them.   (I actually do not know how many community cemeteries are free to the Ibalois.  I am just certain of one cemetery, i.e. the Loakan Community Cemetery which was reserved in the early 1900s on representation of the then Consejal Tagley also known as Tagdi and other elders of the old Loakan for Loakan Ibalois and where they are not supposed to pay fees).

Today, the Loakan Community Cemetery is filled with the remains of many non-Ibalois who have gotten into the place and are now enjoying free burial that was supposed to be for the Ibalois of Loakan.  The area earlier reserved even got over-filled so that a portion of the adjacent lot got included in the cemetery area. 

The original cemetery area, and the addition are parts of the land owned by the late Chacchacan (Shakshahan) and/or his ascendants in the native concept.  The areas were supposed to be for the Ibalois of Loakan who are the relatives of the late Chacchacan.  

B.T. Pistola

(Authority to repost given by Author)

Published:
Volume 1, No 13
TNT, Baguio City, Philippines
October 12, 2014
https://thenortherntribune.blogspot.com/

Provision of the Old Baguio Chapter

Regarding the Revised Charter of Baguio City that is now pending in the Senate, one particular provision in the old Baguio Charter that was not included in it is that one for an Advisory Council of five members who shall be Igorots.

The Advisory Council is supposed “to hold meetings on the request of any three members transmitted to the city secretary or when convened by the mayor.  The presiding officer shall be the mayor or other member of the city council designated by him.  It shall be the duty of the said presiding officer to explain or cause to be explained to the advisory council  all action taken or proposed by the city council regarding ordinances, public improvements, and  other matters of general interest to the population of the city, to ascertain its views thereon, and on other subjects  concerning which the advisory council is desirous of making recommendations or suggestions; and to present said recommendations and suggestions to the city council or the proper city officer for consideration”.

For many years, no advisory council of five Igorots has been working with the City Council and/or the City Mayor after the Americans left.

Why this is the case until now, I do not know yet.  May be there is an answer.  

May be an old Ibaloi still living can tell why the Ibalois who were the Igorottes who were deprived of their lands can answer this question.

And may be the young ones now will seek the re-institution of this provision of the Old City Charter and work for a re-revision of the Revised City Charter that is now pending in the Senate.

The Local Government Code of 1991 also provides for the representation of the Indigenous Peoples in the City Council.   At present, there are two (2) city councilors from the Ibaloi/Igorot tribe  of Baguio City.  Although they can speak for the Ibalois also, their presence in the City Council is due to their having been elected at large, or by the citizenry of the City of Baguio, and not as representatives of the Ibaloi/Igorot or Indigenous Sector as provided by the laws.

Baguio as Reservations

 In this issue, I would like to take a break from my storytelling about La Trinidad.  Instead I would like to write about how the Igorottes, especially the people of Baguio, and even the other Ibalois of Benguet are being deprived of their lands which their predecessors have guarded for a long, long time.

In an earlier write-up, I mentioned about how the Igorottes of Benguet, specifically, the Ibalois guarded their territory from invaders.  They  had mountain passes which they guarded so that travelers cannot just get in to their territory and bring their diseases to it. 

Unfortunately, from the time that the Lt. Col. Guillermo Galvey got into the place, braving the rocks and other items used by the Ibalois to prevent their entrance into their territory, life has not been the same for the Ibalois.

They have prevented the conquistador Quirante from staying long here, although someone said he has left somebody as a reminder that he once came here.  

However, due to lack of firepower to keep the Spaniards out, they have not prevented the whole of them Spaniards from getting in, and making their lives miserable.

When Emilio Aguinaldo ran to the Benguet mountains after proclaiming the Independence of the country from the Spaniards, he did not do anything good that the people would remember him by.  Some of those who were interviewed said the Filipinos led by him were more cruel than the Spaniards.  But of course, he did not last long in Benguet.

The Americans followed, and with candies and corned beef,, and chocolates and seeming kindheartedness won the hearts of the Ibalois, who, if they realized it, or not, have taken away their lands successfully with no hard feelings.

But of course, I have not talked with them personally to make such a sweeping statement.

But after allowing the Ibalois (who, individually, and by delegation followed up the promise of the U.S. President that he will return their lands) to have their lands surveyed within a certain period of time, the Americans started proclaiming all the lands not titled in the names of the Igorottes in Baguio as reservations.  With just a stroke of the pen, many of the Ibalois lost their lands.

It was good that they allowed the Ibalois to have their lands surveyed.  Hence the non-inclusion of some lands of the Ibalois in the Baguio City Townsite Reservation to be disposed by the then Municipal Government of Baguio, later City of Baguio in order to raise funds for the government to use for its infrastructure and other needs.

What was bad was that the people they sent to survey the lands applied the Public Land Law of the United States where a person claiming a piece of land should show some improvements thereon in order for him to have that land patented in his name.  They did not consider the fact that the Ibalois were mostly cattle raisers whose fences as that time consisted only of ditches and rocks, and who allowed portions of their lands to rest for a while after their cattle ate up all the grass on it, and others.  

Also, the Ibalois were not accustomed to their law.  They were not used to having their lands surveyed and titled.  

At last, when they were able to understand the new law requiring them to have their lands titled, they were told that time has run out for them who were ‘sloths who slept on their rights ‘.

And that song that has been sung first in the early 20s is the song that the Filipinos keep on singing to them despite the fact that there is now an Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) law which was instituted to protect the rights of the people who were deprived of their rights earlier.  

Very sad is the fact that even fellow Igorottes or people of the mountains, and fellow Filipinos keep on singing that song in the City of Baguio to the Ibalois who unfortunately were born with a lot of timidity genes in their make-up.

There are of course Filipinos and non-Ibalois who sympathize with the Ibalois of Baguio and Benguet.  Not all of them are bad.

However, there are some of them who laugh at the Ibalois, taunting them with the statement that “they may have the papers, but they (the non-Ibalois) have the land.  

May our good Congressman and Mayor take a stand also for the Ibalois some of whom have intermarried with their tribe, and fight also for them because it is not only their tribesmen who put them in office.  May they not insist on fighting for Section 78 of the IPRA Law which is making the Revised Charter of Baguio as a law against the Ibalois of Baguio who have not taken advantage of the time before the passage of the IPRA law to have their applications processes.

The Ibalois are also citizens of the Philippines and have rights equal to the rest of the Filipinos, Ibontocs. Ifugaos, etc.  They should not be deprived of their rights for the benefit of other Filipinos. The land of the Ibalois have been proclaimed for public purposes “without just compensation” for them:  the Busol Watershed, the Wright Park, the Manasion House, the Forbes Reservation, the Dairy Farm, and others.  If the government wants to continue using them for the purposes that they have been earlier reserved for by the Americanos, let them be used for the same if the reasons for their reservation still exist.  However, let the original owners thereof, the Ibalois, be compensated for them in accordance with Constitution of the Philippines which is the Country where the Ibalois also belong.  And because the law says the government can only pay for ‘titled lands”, let the Ibaloi get his title so that he can be compensated for his land in accordance with the law.  

And considering that the titling of the lands for the original settlers thereof is by the operation of the IPRA Law, let the Ibaloi get his title thru the process specified in such law.  Do not let the reservation for public purposes of the Ibaloi’s land be a reason for not granting him his title if that land truly belonged to his predecessors because the proclamation of that land as a reservation happened at a time when the country was just acquired by the United States, and the Igorottes including the peoples of the Mountain Province, the Kalingas, the Apayaos, the Ifugaos, and other Igorottes were not yet fully conversant in the English language, and on the laws of the United States  so that they were not able to question such proclamations, such as the Cordillera Forest Reserve which included even a portion of the Mountain Province, if not the whole of it.  Beaulah T. Pistola