Bongsos: Another Special Igorot’s Food Delicacy

One of the Igorot’s favorite is a salted pig’s intestines, lungs, liver, and heart. This delicacy is only prepared occasionally during weddings, house blessing the traditional way, and other traditional practices that require the butchering of pigs.

On the first day of the occasion when they butcher pigs, the large intestines to the rectum(The part called Bongsos) and some small intestines are salted, with some liver, and also the lungs.

Cooked Bongsos

On the third day, a native chicken(chicken that ate natural foods on the ground) is butchered and cooked together with the salted intestines and etag(salted fats of pigs cured under the sun or over a cooking place where firewood is used, for many days or months).

Etag = Pig fatty parts being dried using heat and smoke from a firewood

Family members, relatives, neighbors, and friends come to partake at breakfast, and lunch during the bongsos day.  When there are plenty of it, everyone who came will be given some pieces of the cooked intestines to take home.

Meticulous salting of the intestines is essential to achieve the taste and smell required for a perfect bongsos. Not enough salt will result to a decaying smell destroying its lovable aroma and tastes, and excessive salt will make it lost its softness and good touch when it’s chewed.

If you ask me which to compare the aroma and taste, I will give the fresh salted “labahita”  or unicorn fish as the closest to compare with.

Again, the trick to make a perfect bongsos is to clean the intestines very well with running water to remove all the solid wastes and dirt and be careful to not let it drop on the ground else you’ll have a gritty bongsos. Next, put in a wide basin, large enough to mix salt well with the intestines. Reminder:  Do not cut the intestines; just leave it like when it was washed.  Cut it only when it is cooked and ready to serve.

The salt must be enough to get the saltiness needed and to avoid the intestines become spoiled. 1/4 - 1/2 kilograms of salt I think is enough for the intestines of one large pig (enough practice can make it perfect). After mixing with the salt, put inside a big container, size is according to the amount of salted intestines.  Then cover it tightly and put it in a corner away from the light of the sun or heat. Wait for the third day or at least 48 hours before opening it.  I say on the third day because the elder leaders said so, that, the day the pig was butchered is counted as the first day, the following day as the second, and the following day as the third day.

Leaving the bongsos longer than three days or 60 hours will make it become very soft and easily fall to pieces when cooked which make it not so desirable to eat. Thus, aside from the preparations, the timing of opening and cooking the bongsos is very essential for its perfectness. Also, the parts that taste best are the large intestines, rectum, and the stomach.

To cook it, just put a lot of water in a large pot depending on the amount of intestines and chicken meat, and the etag will be cooked. Don’t worry about putting so much water because the bongsos is very salty. There’s no need to wash it again, though it can be done to reduce its salt. Some cook, let it boil for five minutes then throw away the water to remove some of the salt, then they add a new fresh water as the soup.

Now, put in the etag, salted intestines into the water and bring it to a boil. When the chicken is ready you can also put it at the same time. Boil for 20-30 minutes or more until all the meat are tender. Just check it once in a while to not overcook.  

Good Taste: The Best Restaurant of Baguio city

Have you ever gone to a restaurant where in you have to wait for tables to be vacated hoping it will be reserve for you?

Well, I hear you say you did, and I believe you because it happens many times in many small restaurants and eating places. How about if the place is two story building and can accommodate about 2000 people in one time eating aside from those people waiting for their orders to bring home?

Here in our place, Baguio City, there is a restaurant where in people line up to wait for their turn to have table when the first customers finished eating.

I remember the restaurant as a small café and restaurant with just about 5-10 tables accommodating only about 40 or less people at the same time. Then when I came back from abroad as an OFW, I was amazed to learn that the restaurant is now a well-known restaurant.

It is known for its not so expensive foods and is very family friendly that your few hundreds of pesos can feed your whole family with a number of 10 and can still have some left overs to be brought home. While in other restaurants, the same number of family members will need more than a thousand pesos to be fed well, and nothing is left but only the bones.



That is why today, when there are 4 or more people of us, we go to Good Taste Restaurant to have our meal. I love their “lechon beans” which is pork and beans’ fruits, and “Ginataang hito” which is cooked with coconut milk and mudfish. My children love the buttered chicken so much they don’t miss it each time we go to eat there.

So, if you’re a tourist, foreigner or from other parts of the country, Philippines, who is planning to visit the summer capital of the Philippines which is Baguio city, then I suggest this restaurant if you want to eat outside. The old One is found at the back of Center Mall next to the Dangwa station and the new other one is found near Burnham Park – a very spacious three story building. I believe there is no taxi driver who does not know the place, and one can ask anyone on the streets to point to them the way to reach the place.

There are also other good restaurants around and at the center of the city but nothing can come near to the satisfaction one gets eating at Good Taste.

Burnham Park 2013 Christmas

I went to MLhuillier Legarda street this evening to send some money to people my friends from abroad wanted to send their remittances. And since there was no customers ahead of me, I finished my business in less than ten minutes.

 From there, I walked to go back to Harrison road while thinking what to do next – should I go to Tiongsan Harrison to buy some groceries or go straight to Diego Silang where my ride home are waiting for their passengers.

But, when I reach Burnham Park I was fascinated to see a corner whereby many people are happy taking pictures. Their backgrounds are the Christmas light decorations made by the city to light the place and let people feel the spirit of Christmas. I saw parents with their children, teenagers with their friends, and of course somelovers enjoying with awe how the place is lighted. As usual, they are taking pictures of themselves for, I am sure, display it on facebook.

Well, my curiosity and the child side of me lorded over and push my feet to go near the lights and - not to be outdone, take images. The truth is I needed fresh pictures to share to the internet, too, but not in FaceBook but to FanBox where every view of my fans and friends can earn me some dollars in 24 hours.

Here are some of the images I captured – not so many because I forgot to bring with me my canon camera so I had to use my Samsung cellphone which was giving me signal it was low on battery after a few shots.

This was the first scene I saw that mesmerized me

This star is blinking beautifully

People are gathering near the those small houses to take pictures of themselves or their kids

This one attracted many children to pose in front of it, so, I had to wait and rushed to take its image

That looks like Candy man

Those are the deers of Santa

Santa clause stands up next to the Candy house

I guess this must called Candy House

Extension of the lights

A star has fallen

There alsi lights around those pots of flowers

People going away after they got pictures

That's Santa Claus

Santa and his deers

An Angel blowing his trumpet

Another Santa is greeting people going into the boating area

On the right side of Santa Claus is an angel blowing his horn

The lake with SM background on the far behind the other light

On the right side of Burnham park

That light seen from Burnham - any guess?

As you gets nearer, the building is well decorated around its body with lights

SM far on the back

The Harisson round from burnham

Hotel Veniz

The Tribal War: A Headhunting Story Told by an Artist’s Art at Melvin Jones, Burnham Park

I found this story told in a series of images made by an artist as a decoration on the sides of an old stage found at the Melvin Jones at Burnham Park, Baguio city, Philippines. The carved images are already old and one can see the images are not being taken care of as grasses, dirt and dusts covered them. People seem do not know the significance of such art in the history of the Igorot people of my place of origin – Kaigorotan country, or locally known as the Cordillera region. If that’s in Israel, I believe everyday tourists are there gathered around listening to their guides, or students listening to the lectures of their teachers.

The first scene of the story, showed a man found without a head. On the scene, one man is raising his hands which show he must be shouting for revenge. While two people bowed their head which could signify they are grieving for the loss of a brother or member of a family or a friend.

Fig.  1. A headless body is found. The right side shows a clearer picture of the body

The scene followed by a picture of two men carrying the headless body that was positioned like a fetus. The hands and legs are bent and tied, so that, a long pole made up of wood or probably a hard bamboo pole was inserted between the legs and between the tied hands; the two men carried the body by putting the ends of the pole on their shoulders while a man is walking ahead and third man was following them; the others might have walked ahead already to warn the village about a dead member being brought home. In this case, a ritual is done before any corpse is entered inside the village.

Figure  2.  The headless body is now brought home

The next picture shows the men of the village, lead by their elders, had a meeting with all their men to decide what they have to do. In this case, they decided to take revenge as proven by the next image.

Figure 3.  The men decide what to do

The next scene is showing the men marching to war.

Figure  4.  Going to war

The next image is showing them to have reached the entrance of the village of the culprits. In the image, we can see the people presenting peace offerings as shown by two people on their knees while bowing their heads; one is doing the negotiations. The invading party tried to listen as demonstrated by the others sitting on their knees.

Figure  5.  Negotiations

However, it is clear the invading party did not accept the peace offerings, as a gruesome image of killings shown by the next scene.

Figure 6.  The negotiations failed, so, war errupted

As a result of every war, the children and women are the parties most affected by it. Here we can see mothers with their children fleeing away from the fight, while one woman in the picture is probably helping her wounded son or husband.

Children and women fleeing the for their lives

Related stories: Art of Traditions, Culture and Life of the Igorots Found at Burnham Park(Part 1)

Art of Traditions, Culture and Life of the Igorots Found at Burnham Park (Part 2)

This story is true. I heard the same stories, since I was a kid, from my father and old men from Mountain Province. My father always told us about how the people of the old days were living in war. And how head hunting was rampant because it was part of some tribes culture and tradition. Men who reached the age of manhood go hunting for head and bring it home to their village to show they were real men or had already reached manhood. Others do it for the joy of doing it.

Burnham Park’s Update (Part 2)

I love Burnham Park, that’s why I always frequently walk by to view the beautiful flowers and get some fresh air, and of course, be the first to see what’s happening and what are the changes being done to improve its look.

And when there are new things installed or changed I always make sure to snap a picture of it to review it again when I get home and uploaded in my computer.

So, let me share it here for the benefits of those who haven’t seen the area for a long time, especially, those who are working abroad missing the beautiful park as one of their destinations to relax and do their exercises after doing some rounds of jogging around the lake.

The gate being constructed and when finished

The Gate of Burnham Park - located next to Rizal Park

 Visitors are greeted by the sculpture of Mr. Burnham's head  when gets inside the park through the gate

The fences around Burnham Park

The fence construction is through the foundation of Bishop Carlito J. Cenzon

The fountains

The fountains when not working and when working

The Relief Map of CAR

As I was walking towards the Melvin Jones  ground, I saw men busy working at the side, so, I went close and saw what they were doing - The relief Map of CAR(Cordilleara Administrative Region)

Visual view of the Map

The different provinces and cities of the region are seen on the map.

This is found at back of the comfort room next to the main road to hire bicycles

Vandalism at Melvin Jones Grandstand

While  improvements in the city's surroundings is crucial I believe discipline must also be given a focus to not make those expensive improvements to waste when those undisciplined mammals get a hands on them.

The Crown Legacy Hotel

At Kisad road, probably the biggest and most elegant hotel of Baguio city was just finished and is very accessible to Burnham Park.

The two arts of historyfound at Burnham Park

I discovered two structures where  tradition, culture, and history of the Igorots have been carved.  One is next to the lake, and the other one is used as design for one of the stages in Melvin Jones ground.

Baguio Public Market is Clean

I went to the public market this afternoon to buy some vegetables for supper and got amazed how the streets were cleaned of the stalls that were lined up at the sides and even overtaking some spaces of the sidewalks making it hard to walk faster because of the overcrowding.


The feeling was like the cleaned spaces give you a fresh air to breath. I went around and saw that all of the streets were free of sidewalk and ambulant vendors.


It was only yesterday when I walked by the area and every one of the vendors with stalls and ambulant vendors were very calm and relax doing their business; today is an opposite story, it is like a calamity just struck them and took away their source of income – I just hope they were warned first, or had heard of the plan a few days ago by the Mayor of seriously cleaning the area because of many infractions of agreement by the vendors.


It’s sad to think about that many people today just lost their little source of income, but on the other hand, it is good because the place is now really clean and the businesses behind them are now more accessible for buyers and they no longer have competitions.

This is a comparison of the place last week and today

Now that the city hall successfully cleaned the area, they should then stay firm and no longer allowed anyone to start selling on those places.


What happened was one or two vendors tried to sell in one corner, and when no one is telling the vendors to get away from the place, the vendors now starts to put up some umbrella. And since no one was complaining, the umbrella becomes now a more permanent roof. Other vendors see what’s happening and since the vendors are established without hassles the others then put up their own stall next to it until their number multiplied. Now, since their number was large, the city hall cannot easily remove them. And since the city also wanted to show it has some heart with the vendors it into an agreement with the vendors that they pay tax and has to make their place clean. But customers know what the real picture was, the streets were fall of garbage, and sidewalks were not passable.

Those beach umbrellas are all gone now, giving a real view of the places occupied by the vendors days ago.

The places where it used to be crowded with ambulant vendors and stalls.