You decide. Statement from the Tungtungan ti Umili via Sunstar.
On Panagbenga funds:
“People have the right to know where their money was spent and how their elected officials spent it,”
On that cultural street dancing thing:
“Clearly, this is at the expense of exploiting Cordillera indigenous culture so rooted in our indigenous peoples’ history of cultural heritage. Commercializing causes its own slow death — and this death is tantamount to that of indigenous peoples when we lose our identity due to national oppression.”
“To replicate this for public consumption and consumer satisfaction robs the people of their own cultural symbols and practices. Misrepresentation gives the broader public wrong impressions of the Cordilleran culture. In fact, we may be introducing the wrong culture to our children.”
So is the Tungtungan a party pooper or is it the voice of reason? Maybe both?
Miriam Coronel Ferrer has an article on Igorotness which you might find interesting. You can read it here. But here’s a quote:
… those who proudly self-identify as Igorots are generating more and more “Igorot” cultural resources to reproduce, enrich and somehow transform Igorot identity. Jimmy Fong’s presentation featured photos of children wearing t-shirts emblazoned with “Igorotak” (”I am Igorot”) followed by a dictionary-like entry that goes “n.Bibakese* – a statement asserting ethnic identity.” Fong also sampled exchanges in blogs among Igorots about Igorots. A hot topic were pop stars Paolo of Starstruck and Marky Cielo, both of Igorot descent, and their “Igorotness.” Or, in the case of Paolo, his shameful disowning of his identity ala the infamous quip, “My parents are Igorot but I am not.”
I’m not quite sure whether Paolo really did disown his identity. He was hesitant to reveal that he is part Igorot but there have been no reports of him expressly stating “na parents lang niya ang Igorot”. Maybe he did, maybe not. Pero may mga PaKoLI (parents ko lang Igorots) sa Quezon City (sa may E. Rod hehe). Hah, we coined PaKoLI ha. You read it here first.
Anyway, let’s go back to Coronel’s piece.
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