Igorot Country: A Missed Opportunity

1.  Citizenship:  Igorot  2.  Country of origin:  Republic of the  Kaigorotan ……. and, so on…..

Well, how do you feel if those are the things you are writing down in every document you are ask to fill up about your identification?

Crazy idea? It’s out of the blue kind of idea, so, maybe. However, I believe this has a merit to talk about that is why I wrote it and let the public say what they think about it, especially, the kakailians who are concerned of their history and identity as IGOROT.

This idea suddenly got into my mind one time when I was thinking about the slowly dimming memory of my Igorot brothers and sisters of the Kaigorotan on who they really are. I can see that the question of who is an igorot  has begun to twist history and slowly pointing to the people of Mountain Province, specially, Sagada and Bontoc, as the only real Igorots. A reason why many Ifugao, and Kalinga are now saying they are not. And the Benguet or Ibaloy have doubts.

As I was contemplating what happened in the recent history of the igorot people, I remembered the heroism of the then Hon.  Congressman Alfredo Lam-en who stood up in congress to announce that the Igorot people are Filipino people- in response to Carlos P. Romulo’s claim that the Igorot people are not Filipino.

According to the story I heard, Romulo declared that the Igorot people in KAIGOROTAN were not Filipino. He did not expect that a handsome figure stood up in defense of the Igorot.  Dressed in full Igorot attire, and looks very civilized which is contrary to what he read from books and stories he heard( I believed Romulo never saw or still do not know who are the Igorot before the time he announced what he thought; I also guess that Apo Gayagay was the first Igorot he saw in personal). The figure as we know was Mr. Lam-en who told him face to face, and to the entire nation of the Philippines that the Igorot people are Filipino.

As I was analyzing the good and bad thing the move effected on us, I realized that an opportunity has been missed.  A very, very rare opportunity which I believed will never occur again, unless we ourselves create it.

But how can we create the opportunity when we are now starting to disdain our identity as IGOROT?

This reality bothers me much.  I dread the thought that one day we no longer have an identity of our own!  And each time I think of it, I cringed about Mr. Lam-en’s not giving more thought about the challenged posted by an“ ignorant” pundit named Romulo.

He could have challenged him by admitting the charge, and said, “Yes, the IGOROT people are not Filipino.  They are IGOROT, period!  And since they are not Filipino, they therefore have the right to declare that the whole of KAIGOROTAN- Kalinga-Apayao, Ifugao, Bontoc, and Benguet shall be known as the REPUBLIC OF KAIGOROTAN”.  Also, any part of Ilocos region where the Bago  are living.

Yes, that’s it, a country of our own- and, why not?  We have our own dialect or language, culture, tradition, and other requirements to make-up a nation!  So, instead of him at that time arguing against Romulo, he should have agreed with him; however, at the same time he demanded our freedom using the statement of Romulo as the thesis.  He could have asked the igorot people to support him and led them to rally for their freedom from the Philippine government.

If we have a country of our own, then the identity crisis we are going through now could not be happening! But since we missed the opportunity, then we must have to do our best to keep our identity-by educating our brothers and sisters about the roots of our forefathers and make sure the next generation will learn it.

And, who knows, there will be another Carlos P. Romulo who will again declare the Igorot people are not Filipino, and probably, the next Gayagay will be wiser enough to say “Yes, we are not Filipino; we are IGOROT-and the name of our country is KAIGOROTAN:  REPUBLIC OF THE KAIGOROTAN