HCORDI 1

CORDILLERA: History
and Socio-Cultural
Heritage
SACYATEN, WYLLETH
Faculty room H208
UB email: [email protected]
 CHAPTER 1: HISTORICAL
OVERVIEW OF CORDILLERA

A. General History of Cordillera

B. Layered Identities of the Cordilleran’s
C. Cordilleran Autonomy
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
1.Discuss the Historical background of Cordillera
(GEO 2, PI 1,2,3,8,9)
2.Understand the different Indigenous knowledge
and practices in the Cordillera. (GEO2; PI4)
3.Manifest interest in local and show concern in
promoting and preserving the country’s
historical and cultural heritage (GEO2)
 B. LAYERS OF
CORDILLERA IDENTITY

HISTORY OF CORDILLERA
Unit 1. Peopling of the Cordillera and Colonial Labeling

LESSON 1: ORIGINS AND

MIGRATIONS
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1) articulate migratory and linguistic relations of the various
groups of people in the region.
 LESSON 1: ORIGINS AND MIGRATIONS
• Central Cordillera is believed to
have been peopled by migrants.

• The earliest are Negritos whose

descendants are still found in
Apayao and Abra.

• MAJOR MIGRATION
4000 B.C. and 1000 A.D. –
Austronesian movement from
Taiwan to the Philippines
 LESSON 1: ORIGINS AND MIGRATIONS

• All people in the Cordillera

Central, except the Negrito
descendants, descended from the
Austronesian migrants (Reid,
2018).
• Austronesian movements within
Northern Luzon are unclear but
Keesing (1962) writes that Ibaloys are a
result of migration from Pangasinan,
and Kankanaey of Benguet and
Mountain Province, Bontoks, and
Tingguians came from Ilocos.
 LESSON 1: ORIGINS AND MIGRATIONS

• Isneg came from coastal Cagayan

• Southern Apayao
• Kalinga came from the lower
Chico River in the border of
Kalinga and Cagayan.

• Mining activities explain the

movement to Lepanto area and
Itogon in Pre-Spanish times.
 LESSON 1: ORIGINS AND MIGRATIONS

• Others moved to the

mountains of Cordillera as
“runaways”, or to avoid
Spanish rule, such as the
case of Isneg in Apayao,
some Tingguians in Abra,
as well as Kalinga and
Ifugao in the east.
 LESSON 1: ORIGINS AND MIGRATIONS

• Linguistic similarities suggest

that Kankana-ey, Bontok, and
Ifugao entered Luzon by the
Cagayan River and remained
together in some way until they
arrived at the Chico River,
which the Kankana-ey-Bontoc
subgroup followed, while
Ifugao continued along the
Cagayan river and established
themselves first in the Magat
region following Alimit and
Ibulao rivers.
 LESSON 1: ORIGINS AND MIGRATIONS

• Linguistic similarities
suggest that Kankana-ey,
Bontok, and Ifugao entered
Luzon by the Cagayan River
and remained together in
some way until they arrived at
the Chico River, which the
Kankana-ey-Bontoc
subgroup followed, while
Ifugao continued along the
Cagayan river and established
themselves first in the Magat
region following Alimit and
Ibulao rivers.
 LESSON 1: ORIGINS AND MIGRATIONS

• At the Spanish arrival, highlander territories extended

to the lowlands of todays’s Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan,
Isabela, Pangasinan, La Union, and Ilocos.
Highlanders were scattered as numerous and
autonomous villages, a condition the Spaniards
described later as “tribus independientes”
Unit 1. Peopling of the Cordillera and Colonial Labeling

LESSON 2: COLONIALISM AND

ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1) trace the context of labeling during colonial
periods; and
2) identify labels used for highlanders.
 LESSON 2: COLONIALISM AND ETHNIC
CLASSIFICATION

IGORROTES AND SPANISH PERIOD

COLONIALISM (1600s-1898)
- Cordillera was penetrated from both East and West.
- Colonial interest: gold, proselytization campaigns, extension of
conquered territories, and punitive expeditions.
- Refusal to be colonized > Retreat into the deeper parts of the mountain
> population dispersion and muddled ethnic distinctions
- Christian conversion
 LESSON 2: COLONIALISM AND ETHNIC
CLASSIFICATION

IGORROTES AND SPANISH PERIOD

COLONIALISM (1600s-1898)
- Redefined Igorot territory as Igorot in the lowlands and close
to the lowlands abandoned these areas
- Christian conversion?
- By the time the Spaniards were driven out in the late 1890s,
most highlanders remained pagans, and free.
 LESSON 2: COLONIALISM AND ETHNIC
CLASSIFICATION

IGORROTES AND SPANISH PERIOD COLONIALISM

(1600s-1898)
- There are no systematic identification of ethnic groupings during the Spanish
rule but scattered classifications were consolidated in the works of
Blumentritt (1890).
- listed 36 “tribes” of Northern Luzon, 29 are found within the Cordillera.
- These includes: Igorrotes, Busaos, Panuipuy, Mayoyaos, Ifugaos, Gaddanes,
Itetepanes, Guinaanes, C.alingas, Tinguianes, Apayaos, Ilamut, and Ileabanes
- The Jesuit mission of Manila also came up with a list of 26 tribes in
Northern Luzon, with around 10 from the Central Cordillera (Worcester,
1906).
 LESSON 2: COLONIALISM AND ETHNIC
CLASSIFICATION

Spaniards adopted geographical identifications

Ygolottes (gold traders – Benguet, Kayan, Ifugao)

-Igorrotes – benguet people particularly Ibaloy > all people
of the Cordilleran Region.
- Igorrotes – “people from the mountain” (old malay
language)
Tingguianes (Abra, Ifugao) - Tinggi “high” or “elevated”
Mandaya (Apayao) - “those up above”
• Others were just labeled as “infieles” (pagans) and savajes (savages) –
refusal to adopt to Christianity

• Igorot resistance also prompted Spaniards to attribute repugnant characteristics

on them like “bandits, murderers who killed for the purpose of revenge,
robbery, intimidation or extortion and mutilated the bodies of their victims.”

• They were also charged for with preventing other Filipinos from becoming
Christians, kidnapped baptized children to be raised as pagans and gave refuge
to ex-convicts, lawbreakers and delinquents.” (Scott, 1987)

• To be Igorotte is not only to be from the mountains, but also as infieles,

bandits, murderers, robbers, kidnappers, and wild.
• Spaniards set up their first political divisions - Commandancia-Politico-Miltares
(CPM) – military posts – Guillermo Galvey
• Military post - Benguet (1854), Tiagan (1847), Lepanto (1852), Bontoc (1857),
Saltan (1859), Amburayan, Kayapa, Apayao (1891), Kiangan (1892)
• Not complete colonization – influence is limited to tax collection
• Most highlanders enjoy their independence up to the end of the Spanish rule
in the late 1890s.
• Highlander resistance resulted in the estranged relationship with lowlanders
surrounding the Cordillera Central. The lowlanders become more and more
Spanish wile the highlanders maintained their indigenous ways.
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)
American colonization began with the organization of Benguet as a
province (1900), the first civil government in the country.

Bureau of Non Christian Tribes (BNCT) – investigate the actual

conditions of the pagan and Moslem peoples, and to conduct scientific
investigation regarding the ethnology of the Philippines.
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)

• Resistance (moderate) were expressed in Lepanto-Bontoc, Ifugao,

Kalinga, and especially Apayao.

• Isnag around present day Kabugao presented the Americans a

consistent resistance for which reasons they were attacked by
numerous punitive military expeditions from 1907 to 1913.
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)
• Trail and road building accompanied military expeditions.
• Where the military declared as pacified, schools and political organizations
followed.
• Baguio was particularly developed as it was identified ideal for a hill station or a
territory where Americans would spend time for rest and recreation.
• Sanitarium, Military Camp, Teacher’s Camp, Market Area, Mansion House, and
cottages cabinet officials as well as engrs. Benguet road (Kennon Rd) was
constructed to access Baguio and the nearby Itogon mines.
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)
- Administrative organization –
1. Creation of Benguet 1900
2. Lepanto-Bontoc (1902)
Sub-provinces: Lepanto, Bontoc, Amburayan
Kalinga and Ifugao were added as sub-provinces (1907) before
Kalinga and Apayao were merged to make up a separate sub-province

1908 – single province - Mountain Province was created

ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)
1908 – Mountain Province was created.
Mountain Province grouped all former provinces and sub-provinces: Benguet,
Amburayan, Alilem, Lepanto, Bontoc, Ifugao, Kalinga and Apayao.

Worcester’s own tribal organization in 1906, where Benguet was for Benguet
Igorots, Bontoc for Bontoc Igorots, Kalinga for Kalinga tribe, Ifugao for
Ifugao tribe, and Apayao for the Tingguians (Finin 2005).
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)

• Being assigned an administrative label as “Kalinga sub province” or

“Benguet sub-province” also added to the layers of identities.
• political organizations as “I Benguet” or “Ifugao”
• In becoming Mountain Province, labels such as Igorot, non-Christians,
tribes, wild, and headhunters became politically bounded and reinforced.
Mountain Province was, therefore, the home of non-Christian tribes who
were perceived as less civilized.
• It is for this reason that Abra was excluded from the province because it
was deemed “civilized” compared to the other groups that made up the
Mountain Province.
Amburayan, Alilem, Lepanto,
Bontoc, Ifugao, Kalinga and
Apayao
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)
• BNCT – less civilized and culturally as well as racially distinct

• *Ethnic classification was formalized in the 1903 Philippine Census.

• David Barrows, disregarded the Blumentritt classification and went on to identify
only one ethnic group (Igorot) in the Cordillera region.
including Gaddang, Dadayag, Kalinga, Banao, Bontoc Igorot (Ipukao),
Bunnayan, Silipan, Mayoyao, Tingguians, Kankanay, and Nabiloi.
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)

• The use of Igorot for all Cordillera people by Barrows is a departure from
earlier association of the term to Benguet people.
• Igorot as ‘tribal’ name was used for all inhabitants of Cordillera in the 1903
Census and thus, recognized as a label.
• By this time, the Igorot identity has been mired with negative meanings being
associated with backwards, savagery, and paganism.
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)
• In 1906, Dean Worcester, who was Secretary of Interior and member of the Philippine
Commission, questioned Barrows’ classification and asserted his own to include
Kalingas, Ifugaos, Bontoc Igorot, Lepanto-Bontoc Igorot, and Tinggians.
• Notice that Worcester applied the label Igorot only to Bontoc, Lepanto, and Benguet,
acknowledging that he included Bontoc as Igorot because he could not find any
appropriate classification for them.
• Apayao people were not also included in the list but were presented as part of Kalinga or
Tingguian group (Worcester, 1906). Worcester’s classification clearly defined the
administrative division of the newly formed Mountain Province in 1908, and influenced
later ethnic classifications.
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)
Otley Beyer
Apayao (Apayao or Isneg)
Bontok (Bontok/Kadaklan-Barlig/Tinglayan/Dananao-Bangad)
Gaddang (Gaddang/Yogad/Maddukayang or
Kalibugan/Katalangan/Iraya)
Ifugao (Pure Ifugao. Or Kiangan/Sub-Ifugao or Silipan/Lagaui)
Igorot (Kankanai/Baukok/Malaya/Inibaloi/I-waak)
Kalinga (Dadayag/Kalagua or Kalaua/Nabayugan/Mangali-
Lubo/Lubuagan/Sumadel/Gina-an
Tinggian (Itneg ot Tinggian)
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)
• Beyer’s ethnolinguistic groupings remained unchanged up to the
end of American rule.
• Under US rule, Igorots were also assigned other tags such as
“Non-Christians”, “Tribes”, “headhunters”, “savages”, and “wild”.
• American officials explained that the use of the term Non-
Christian is not purely along religion but more cultural and
historical, to refer to those who cling to their indigenous culture
and refuse to submit to Spanish-American ways.
 ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)

• The assignation of “tribal” was also something tentative and misused

as there are really no tribal boundaries, nor did Igorots fight tribal wars
or claim descent from common tribal ancestors. American officials
acknowledged that Igorot groups do not qualify as tribes.

• Tribe was only use for the absence of a better word to indicate distinct
cultural and linguistic identities.
 ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)

• 1920 – Boundary realignment > identity adjustments.

• Alilem, Amburayan and Lepanto were dissolved and boundaries b/w

Mt. Province and the lowland provinces were redefined.
• Cervantes, Tagudin and other parts of Lepanto and Alilem were
added to the Ilocos Sur.
• Langagan and Allacapan were transferred to Cagayan
 ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)
• Jones Law (1916) – filipinization of numerous government positions.
As a result, the upper house (Philippine Commission) gave way to an all-
Filipino senate.
- Non Christian provinces were given special representation in both
senate and the lower house.
- Mountain Province was represented at different times by Juan
Carino and Henry Kamora of Benguet sub-province, Rafael Bulayungan
and Joaquin Codamon of Ifugao sub-province, Clemente Irving, Hilary
Clapp, Rodolfo Hidalgo, and Felix Diaz of Bontoc sub-province.
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)

• For the first time, Mountain Province was, therefore,

under the direct supervision of Filipinos through the
Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes (BNCT).

• Joaquin Luna, from La Union, became its first Filipino

governor.
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)

At the end of American colonial rule, science and census have

already classified the people of the Cordillera Central according to
perceived cultural and linguistic features. Despite clarification in
ethnological works, the term Igorot, and all its bad connotations,
continued to be applied to the general population. Such
unfavorable connotations were translated into prejudices and
discrimination when Igorots encountered outsiders.
ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)

• Some lowlanders, particularly, have looked down with

contempt upon Igorots, and discriminated against
educated natives.
• Customs, usages, and traditions associated with
Igorotness have also been despised, even by lowlander
officials and employees of Mountain Province.
 ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)

• By the 1930s, Igorot themselves developed a growing aversion

to the term that an alternative label, “mountaineer”, has
become more acceptable.
• An Igorot organization of professionals that called itself
BIBKA, which stands for Benguet, Ifugao, Bontoc, and
Kalinga-Apayao, preferred the term “native” over “Igorot”
 ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION and AMERICAN
COLONIALISM (1898-1941)
• Overall, inhabitants of the Central Cordillera were labeled in several layers.
By virtue of their geographical location, they were identified as Igorrotes,
Mandaya, and Tingguians.
• Based on their level of “civilization”, they were branded as salvajes, infieles,
non-Christians, tribes, and headhunters.
• Based on ethnolinguistic groupings, they were also identified as Bontok,
Apayao, Ibaloy, Kalinga, Kankanaey, Gaddang, Ifugao, and Tingguian.
• And still based on political affiliation, they were also linked to their province
or sub-province as Benguet, Bontok, Kalinga, Apayao, Ifugao, or Abra.
Unit 2: Confronting and Adopting Identities

Lesson 1:
Post-colonial Identity Struggle and
the 1966 Division (1950s-1970)

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

1) identify the effects of colonial naming on highlanders; and
2) explain the nature of the political division of the old
Mountain Province.
Post-colonial Identity Struggle and the 1966 Division (1950s-1970)
• The 2nd World War and the Japanese rule in between are generally viewed
as difficult years brought about by the destruction and deaths.
• first highlander was appointed as Governor of Mountain Province.
• “non-Christians” to “Cultural Minorities”, was introduced as an official
state label of what used to be Non-Christians.
• Commission National Integration (CNI) – scholarship program
• highlanders were struggling with discriminations- is because they now
have to compete with other people on an equal footing without special
treatment the way they were treated under American rule.
Post-colonial Identity Struggle and the 1966 Division (1950s-1970)
• such different treatment of Igorots stemmed, not from intellectual inferiority,
but from their being Igorot and all the negative connotations attached to it.
• In 1958, a bill was proposed by Congressman Luis Hora prohibiting the use of
“Igorot” in printed materials. The bill supported the use of “highlander” but
failed to progress into law. Highlander students in Baguio responded to the
discrimination by organizing themselves, exemplified by the BIBAK (Benguet-
Ifugao-Bontoc-Apayao-Kalinga) organization that unified students from all
corners of the region.
• Alternative labels were also raised to replace “Igorot” such as “mountaineer”,
“native”, and “highlander”, but these were adopted individually according to
one’s liking.
Sense of who we are
Regional identity- old Mountain
Province (1908-1966)

1966 - Republic Act No. 4695 was

enacted to split Mountain Province

AN ACT CREATING THE

PROVINCES OF BENGUET,
MOUNTAIN PROVINCE, IFUGAO
AND KALINGA-APAYAO
Post-colonial Identity Struggle and the 1966 Division (1950s-1970)
• Mountain Province was subdivided into 4 new provinces in 1966.
• This division created Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga-Apayao, and a new
Mountain Province, which covered the Bontoc territory.
• They felt that Benguet holds the economic burden for the whole province
because it hosts key and productive industries like the mines (Fry, 2006).
• The subdivision was followed by another regional breakup under PD No. 1
of 1972. Under this decree, Ifugao and Kalinga-Apayao were placed
under Region II while Benguet and Mountain Province under Region I.
• The contentious “Igorot” label remained acceptable to others but the political
divisions killed the spread of such acceptance.
Post-colonial Identity Struggle and the 1966 Division (1950s-1970)

• For Cordillera Central, an authoritative map by Robert Fox and Elizabeth Flory
(Fox and Flory map) prepared in 1974 named 12 groups with Balangao, I’wak,
Ikalahan, and Amduntog Atipulo being added to Beyer’s list of 1916.
• The use of “Igorot” as an ethnic classification disappeared in this work and
other works including the government Censuses.
Unit 2: Confronting and Adopting Identities

LESSON 2:
REVIVAL OF IGOROTISM (1970s – 1983)

• At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

1) connect the resistance movement to the revival of Igorot identity.
 REVIVAL OF IGOROTISM (1970s – 1983)
• The reinvention of “Igorot”
consciousness occurred in the
context of the opposition to
damming and logging projects in
the 1970s. Chico River runs
through Mountain Province and
Kalinga.
 REVIVAL OF IGOROTISM (1970s – 1983)
• In 1973, the National Power
Corporation (NPC) began its survey
of a planned dam along this river.
The plan was to build four dams
from Sabangan in Mountain
Province to Tabuk in Kalinga.
• The project, which did not care to
secure any consent from the affected
areas, was opposed by communities
directly affected by the dam
construction.
REVIVAL OF IGOROTISM (1970s – 1983)
• Presidential Assistant on National Minorities (PANAMIN) in an attempt
to stop the opposition. PANAMIN took over the functions of the CNI as
overseer of the national minorities.
• During the Chico controversy, PANAMIN distributed goods and money to
affected areas and facilitated meetings with government authorities. It also
offered similar scholarship grants to selected students as the CNI did earlier.
When the strategy failed, soldiers were brought in to secure the operation.
• In nearby Abra, a logging concession was granted by the government to a
corporation covering 200 hectares of Benguet pines.
 REVIVAL OF IGOROTISM (1970s – 1983)
• The New Peoples’ Army (NPA), which was just starting its operation in the region, sided with
the affected communities, attracting hundreds of recruits as a consequence. Among those
recruited in Abra were Catholic priests like Conrado Balweg, Bruno Ortega, Cirilo Ortega, and
Nilo Valerio.
• Vochong, or peace pact
• “Igorot” as such term would easily bring to mind the stereotype of a loincloth-wearing man with
unkempt hair playing gongs.
• The term also was meant to project the warrior spirit of old headhunting practices against a
government enemy. The use also revived historic and successful Igorot resistance to Spanish
colonialism.
• Speeches, communications, and conferences made use of “Igorot”, and “Kaigorotan” was also
coined as an inclusive name for the entire Igorot population.
 REVIVAL OF IGOROTISM (1970s – 1983)
• In a way, the opposition to these projects brought affected communities
closer, bringing Tingguians closer to other highlanders of Mountain Province
and Kalinga. In this context, “Igorot” was somehow redefined as an identity
to a resistance.
• In 1980, a known opposition leader from Kalinga, Macliing Dulag, was
gunned down in his own home in Bugnay.
• Instead of silencing the opposition, the assassination of Dulag widened
support, including international groups, for the stoppage of the project. The
CRC operation finally halted in 1984 and the Dam project ended a few years
after.
Unit 2: Confronting and Adopting Identities

LESSON 3: “Cordilleran” Identity (1983-1987)

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

1) identify the shift to “Cordilleran” as identity; and

2) tell the story of how the Cordillera
Administrative Region (CAR) came about.
“Cordilleran” Identity (1983-1987)
• An important lesson derived from the two projects and the experience
of resistance to the projects is the realization of how national
minorities, an alternative label for cultural minorities, were treated.
• The territories of minorities were viewed only as a resource base for
the benefit of the majority - absence of serious consultation and
consent.
• These and a shared history of Spanish colonial resistance as well as
having a distinct culture combined to convince highlanders to seek for
autonomy.
“Cordilleran” Identity (1983-1987)
• Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA), began the drive for an autonomous
Cordillera.
• Cordillera Peoples’ Liberation Army (CPLA), led by Father Balweg, and a
breakaway group of the New Peoples’ Army (NPA).
• Because of the absence of a single administrative unit that would unify the
entire region, another geographical term was adopted to group people of the
old Mountain Province and Abra. As a geographic jargon, Cordillera refers to
parallel mountains, and for northern Luzon Cordillera includes Sierra Madre,
Malaya range, and Cordillera Central. It is from Cordillera Central that
“Cordillera” and “Cordilleran” were derived as a new label for the region and its
people.
“Cordilleran” Identity (1983-1987)
• The term competed with Igorot as an identity in the 1980s and the 1990s,
and a number of key players for the autonomy named their groups with
“Cordillera” in it, such as Cordillera Broad Coalition (CBC), Cordillera
Peoples Alliance (CPA), Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA),
Cordillera Peoples Democratic Front (CPDF), and Cordillera Bodong
Administration (CBAd).
• The decision to name the region “Cordillera” and the title of the advocacy
of “Cordillera Autonomy”, as well as naming related offices with Cordillera
like Cordillera Executive Board (CEB) and Cordillera Regional Assembly
(CRA) were all derived from this.
“Cordilleran” Identity (1983-1987)
• Cordilleran
- ethnic neutrality, making it more inclusive to all residents of the Cordillera
Central regardless of their ethnicity.

• The aspiration for regional autonomy was successfully lobbied with the
Constitutional Commission and was included in Section 14 of Article X of
the Philippine Constitution. At the same time, the Aquino government
entered into a peace agreement (Sipat) with Conrado Balweg’s CPLA.
“Cordilleran” Identity (1983-1987)
• Executive Order No. 220 was signed on July 15, 1987, establishing a transition regional
setup called Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), effectively removing the
provinces from regions I and II.
• CAR included the provinces of Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga Apayao, Mt. Province, the
chartered city of Baguio, and Abra.
• In 1995 another political division in the region happened with the separation of Kalinga
and Apayao. Through Republic Act 7878, Kalinga and Apayao finally became distinct
provinces.
• Philippine Congress passed two laws for Cordillera autonomy, one in 1990 and the second
in 1998. These were supported in a plebiscite only by Ifugao in 1990 and Apayao in 1998.
Because the Philippine Supreme Court decided that a single province cannot constitute an
autonomous region, Cordillera regional autonomy remains elusive.
Unit 2: Confronting and Adopting Identities

Lesson 4: IPRA and

Ethnicity
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
1) make conclusions about the evolution of naming and labeling
in the Cordillera; and
2) develop pride in labels adopted and used among Indigenous
peoples in the region.
Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA)
• landmark law in favor of Indigenous Peoples.
• 1997
• it promised protection and advancement of the rights and privileges of
indigenous people, particularly to finally have a definitive ownership to
their land.
• Before the IPRA, the state recognized ancestral land claims through the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
Administrative Order No. 2 (DAO 2) of 1992.
Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA)
• National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP)
- office to oversee the affairs of the Indigenous Peoples
- it replaced the old offices of the Office of Northern Cultural
Communities (ONCC) and the Office of Southern Cultural
Communities (OSCC).
• IPRA formalized the use of “Indigenous Peoples” as another label for
most highlanders.
- It is defined to include people who have lived in a defined territory
they call their own, share cultural and linguistic relations, and were
differentiated from the rest of the bigger population by virtue of their
resistance to colonialism (IPRA, 1997).
Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA)
• “Indigenous Peoples”
- replaced the “cultural/national minority” label even if the IPRA itself still
uses “Indigenous Cultural Communities” as another name for Indigenous
Peoples.

• In the 1990 national census, there are only 9 ethnic groups in the Cordillera
included. Ten years after, the government census recognized 22! This
continued to grow in the government census after 2000. IPRA, and the
perceived benefits it created, appear to have attracted open assertions of
distinct and separate ethnic identities.
Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA)
• National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)
• Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP)
• National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)
- remain conventional in their recognition of ethnicities, but government
censuses, supported by linguistic studies, are bold enough to
acknowledge more ethnicities.
- Most of the ethnicities added are those previously categorized as sub-
groups, such as the Mabaka, Majukayang, Guinaang, and more of
Kalinga, as well as Adasen, Inlaud, Masadiit, and others in Abra.