Philippine Indigenous Communities

CORDILLERA
ADMINISTRATIVE
REGION

GROUP MEMBERS

DATE SUBMITTED
Introduction
The Cordillera Administrative Region, officially
designated as CAR, is an administrative region in the
Philippines occupying the northern-central section of Luzon. It
covers 6 provinces,
namely, Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain
Province, as well as 1 highly urbanized city. The regional center
is the City of Baguio.

  Geographically, the word cordillera refers to a mountain

range that serves as a backbone to an island; thus the Gran
Cordillera Central serves as a backbone to the main island of
Luzon.  The peoples of the Cordillera could be grouped to the
following major ethnolinguistic groups: Kankanaey (Kankanai),
Ibaloy, Bontok, Kalinga, Isneg, Itneg, Ifugao, Kalanguya, iwak,
Ga’dang.

The region is rich in natural resources and has abundant

mineral reserves. Gold, copper, silver, and zinc are among the metallic ores that can be found in
the region. Non-metallic reserves include sand, gravel, and sulfur. Although mineral reserves are
found all over the region, mining is concentrated in Benguet. Majority of Cordillera’s population
engage in farming and small-scale production.
Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) is rich in ancient culture. It is the home of the
indigenous tribe called the Igorot. The way of life of the people in this region existed way back
to ancient Filipinos before the Spanish colonization. Cordillera also has various festivals, these
includes the Panagbenga or Baguio Flower Festival celebrated every February. The festival
highlights are the flower exhibits, garden tours, floral competition, and parade of floats. Other
festivals in the region include the Ulalim Festival in Kalinga, Lang-ay Festival in Mountain
Province, Banaue Imbayah Festival, and the Tabuk Matagoan Festival.
Cordillera is one of the prime tourist destinations in the Philippines. It has many
spectacular scenic views and enchantingly cool places. The world-famous Banaue Rice Terraces
in the province of Ifugao is considered as the
“Eighth Wonder of the World”.

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 The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras is an outstanding example of an evolved,
living cultural landscape that can be traced as far
back as two millennia ago in the pre-colonial
Philippines.

Indigenous People and their

Ancestral Domain
The first inhabitants of Abra were the
ancestors of the Bontocs and the Ifugaos. These
inhabitants eventually left to settle in the old
Mountain Province. Other early inhabitants were
the Tingguians, or Itnegs, as they are also
known. In 1598, a Spanish garrison was established in Bangued to protect Christian Ilocanos
from Tingguian raids. Originally the area was called El Abra de Vigan ("The Opening of
Vigan").
The Tinguians/Tingguians are indigenous people groups of the province of Abra, located
in the Cordillera region of northern Philippines.  As of 2003, they were found in all of the 27
municipalities compromising 40% of the total population and occupying almost 70% of the total
land area.

The lowland Tinguian inhabit lowland Abra and the mountain area is where the “Upland
Tinguian” originally habited.  As of the present times Bangued, the capital town, is inhabited by
a representation of all the tribes of Abra as well as migrants.

They are distinct from the Igorot tribe, who are their neighbors, although intermarriage
between the two groups has become common. The Itneg are classified as a “pagan” tribe because
they were not Christianized by the Spaniards unlike the Ilocano people nearby.

Outsiders call them Tinguian but they call themselves Itneg. The men are famous for
their large, distinctive traditional hats and for their use of blowguns (made from bamboo and
other plants) in hunting deer, pigs, birds and wild carabao. They’ve also subsisted on chickens
and fish.

The word “Tingguian” is traced to the Malay root word “tinggi” meaning high,
mountains, elevated, upper. However, the people refer to themselves as “Itneg, Gimpong or
Idaya-as” or based on their 12 sub-people group.  The 12 ethno linguistic groups are the Inlaud,
Binongan, Masadiit, Banao, Gubang, Mabaka, Adasen, Balatok, Belwang, Mayudan, Maengs
and the Agta or Negrito.

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Culture
The Tinguian culture dates back to pre-Spanish times

but in spite of strong external forces negatively affecting their

customs, they continue to practice their ethnic traditions.

There are two general groupings:

the valley Tinggian which are an homogenous and

concentrated population found in the lower reaches of

the province of Abra that thrive on wet rice cultivation;

the mountainTinggian that depend on dry cultivation

and root crops in the higher elevations. Traditionally, the Tinggian live in fortified villages

adjacent to the swidden fields. They differ from other Philippine ethnic groups in that their dress

is basically white, with the women known for the heavily beaded and full lower arm ornaments.

The village is the political unit with a lakay as the head, assisted by a council of elders. The

indigenous religion recognizes Kadaklan as the supreme deity, often identified also with

Kabunyian, and other animistic deities. The ritual specialists and healers

are usually women. Prestige feasts by men, sayang, are common among

the Cordillera groups and usually aspired for by most people with

sufficient kin support

Economic Life

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 Like most erstwhile headhunters, they are slash-and-burn farmers who have recently,

under the influence of their neighbors, begun to practice wet-rice agriculture. As a dry rice

farmer, the male head of a household annually clears a fresh section of tropical forest where his

wife will plant and harvest their rice. Itneg women also cook the meals, gather wild vegetables

and weave bamboo mats and baskets, while the men cut timber, build houses and take extended

hunting and fishing trips. Often when a wild pig or deer is killed, its meat is skewered on

bamboo and distributed to neighbors and relatives. Nearly all Itneg households also harvest a

small grove of coffee trees since the main cash crop of the area is coffee.

The Tingguians use weapons for hunting, headhunting, and building a house, among
others. Some examples of their weapons and implements are the lance or spear (pika), shield
(kalasag), head axe (aliwa). Foremost among all these weapons and implements is the bolo
which the Tangguians are rarely seen without.[1]

Traditions

The Itnegs’ marriage are arranged by the

parents and are usually between distant relatives in
order to keep the family close-knit and the family
wealth within the kinship group. The parents select a
bride for their son when he is six to eight years old,
and the proposal is done to the parents of the girl. If
accepted, the engagement is sealed by tying beads
around the girl's waist as a sign of engagement. A bride price (pakalon) is also paid to the bride's
family, with an initial payment and the rest during the actual wedding. No celebration
accompanies the Itneg wedding and the guests leave right after the ceremony.

The females dress in a wrap-around skirt (tapis) that reaches to the knees and fastened by
an elaborately decorated belt. They also wear short sleeved jacket on special occasions. The men,

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on the other hand, wear a G-string (ba-al) made
of woven cloth (balibas). On special occasions,
the men also wear a long-sleeved jacket (bado).
They also wear a belt where they fasten their
knife and a bamboo hat with a low, dome-
shaped top. Beads are the primary adornment of
the Tingguians and a sign of wealth. Also,
tattooing is commonly practiced.

The Tingguians have two general types of

housing. The first is a 2–3 room-dwelling
surrounded by a porch and the other is a one-
room house with a porch in front. Their houses
are usually made of bamboo and cogon. A
common feature of a Tingguian home with
wooden floors
is a corner with bamboo slats as flooring where mothers
usually give birth. Spirit structures include balawa built during
the say-ang ceremony, sangasang near the village entrance,
and aligang containing jars of basi.[1]

The traditional leadership in the Tangguian community

is held by panglakayen (old men), who compose a council of
leaders representing each purok or settlement.
The panglakayen are chosen for their wisdom and eagerness to protect the community's interest.
Justice is governed by custom (kadawyan) and trial by ordeal. Head taking was finally stopped
through peace pacts (kalon).[1]

The Tingguians still practice their traditional ways, including wet rice
and swidden farming. Socio-cultural changes started when the Spanish conquistadors ventured to
expand their reach to the settlements of Abra. The Spaniards brought with them their culture
some of which the Tangguians borrowed. More changes in their culture took place with the

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coming of the Americans and the introduction of education and Catholic and Protestant
proselytization

Issues and Concerns

Mining and Indigenous Rights in the Luzon Highlands

As of July, 2000, over half of the entire land area of the Cordillera has mining applications
pending. And more keep coming. For the Igorot peoples, who comprise seven major ethno
linguistic groups and have lived on and tended to the Cordillera since time immemorial, it's an
outrage -- one they are mobilizing to fight. He growing anti-mining movement is raising a
number of issues and concerns about the entry of large-scale mining into members' communities.
These include the poisoning of the rivers, devastation of the forest, destruction of their farmland,
and the total disregard for their ancestral land rights. "We are promoting indigenous people's
rights and working for the recognition and defense of these rights, especially now in the face of,
globalization, with people’s resources and territories being taken over by multinational
companies, Mining is an outright violation of their inherent rights over their land and resources.
Because our life depends on the land, our spirituality -- our culture -- is basically in oneness with
the land. So once you evict indigenous people from the land, that's already ethnocide. They lose
their ethnicity and their distinctness. “says Joan Carling, CPA's Secretary-General and a
Kankana-ey from Benguet province.

Disturbing Cordilleran IP community’s ancestral land

One of China’s telecommunication companies is allegedly violating the ancestral domain rights
of the Indigenous Peoples’ (IP) community in the Cordillera region.

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Recently, Regional Director Atty. Marlon Bosantog of the National Commission on Indigenous
Peoples-Cordillera Administrative Region (NCIP-CAR) issued a show cause order to the soon-
to-be-launched Dito Telco to explain why it is reportedly laying fiber optics in various ancestral
domains in Benguet without securing Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) from the IP
community  in the area. 
According to the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, Indigenous communities have the right to
FPIC, which serves as a way for them to grant consent to a project that may affect their ancestral
land. This is recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples (UNDRIP). With this law in place, entities can’t just dig around and build infrastructure
in ancestral lands without prior consent from IP communities.

Misrepresentation and Appropriation of Culture

There have been numerous issues of misrepresentation and cultural misappropriation throughout
the years. Recently, Cordilleran IPs called out the mis-labelling in various DepEd-approved
textbooks of Aetas as natives of Mountain Province and the Banaue Rice Terraces as being
found in the Ilocos Region, among others. Outcry also came about with the release of sandals
labelled “Kankana-ey” from a known local footwear brand and as well as attempts to reproduce
Kalinga tattoo artist Whang-od’s designs on hats and shirts by an international clothing brand.

On October 7, Dr. Rovillos stressed that the existing cultural misrepresentation among
Cordilleran Indigenous Peoples was a product of long-standing institutional factors over
centuries of ethnocentrism, discrimination, and plain ignorance brought about by colonization.
He emphasized that centuries of a colonial power deciding on what is considered to be culture
led to those they were unable to colonize to be labelled as “savages” or “uncultured”. These
misconceptions were entrenched in the day-to-day life, educational institutions, and even
government policies of the country. Rovillos urged indigenous peoples to take part in the
narrative and use the advantages available now to help change these misrepresentations.

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Conclusion
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References
INFORMATION

https://philouise.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/rituals-of-thetingguians-of-abra-from-the-
philippines/#:~:text=THE%20TINGUIANS%2FTINGGUIAN,of%20the%20total%20land%20area.

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/User:Jnobbie/Sandbox20

Development Issues | Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links (piplinks.org)

Peoples of the Philippines: Tinggian - National Commission for Culture and the Arts (ncca.gov.ph)

The IGOROT People – Bontoc, Ibaloi, Isneg (or Apayao), Kalinga, and Kankanaey (mandirigma.org)

Regional IP Committee tackles misrepresentation and appropriation of culture | NEDA Cordillera

The Cordillera People's Alliance: Mining and Indigenous Rights in the Luzon Highlands | Cultural
Survival

Chinese telco Dito’s new violation? Disturbing Cordilleran IP community’s ancestral land - NOLISOLI

Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) Profile – PhilAtlas

Ethnic History (Cordillera) - National Commission for Culture and the Arts (ncca.gov.ph)

Regional Profile - Cordillera Administrative Region (da.gov.ph)

IMAGES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itneg_people#/media/File:Tinguin_men_of_Sallapadin.jpg

https://images.app.goo.gl/qW3CzN6j15dfpwBJ6

https://images.app.goo.gl/YTeRfQqReq4GtSnf9

https://images.app.goo.gl/TchCPCVeoqKQmkH7A

https://images.app.goo.gl/jGoqbW5f6wWLyZdX6

https://images.app.goo.gl/8Q4rBj26mrkjZiF78

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https://images.app.goo.gl/pYeK4QrcomVStPhk8

https://images.app.goo.gl/5wRgwkrHqVKUWr2i7

https://images.app.goo.gl/KKdZmRii3hvskg85A

https://images.app.goo.gl/1Sdkxprc5P33vx3L8

References
MEDIA SOURCES

Links where you got your photos and other media

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