A Strong Partner for Sustainable Development

Module
in

GEE II

PHILIPPINE INDIGENOUS
COMMUNITIES
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Module No. 1

Geographical Features of the

Philippines and Indigenous
People from Luzon, Philippines

2nd Semester 2022 - 2023

Lovelyn S. Chavez
Instructor I

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Cover Page 1

Title Page 2

Table of Contents 3

Instruction to the User 4

Introduction 5

Chapter: I 6

Title of the Chapter: 6

Overview: 6

Learning Outcomes 6

Pre-test 6

Lesson 1 10

Time Allotment 10

Discussion 10-12

Activity/Exercise 13

Posttest 14

Lesson 2 17

Learning Outcomes 17

Time Allocation 17

Discussion 17-52

Activities/Exercises 53

Posttest 55

References 60

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INSTRUCTION TO THE USER

This module is intended to provide learning on the Geographical

Features of the Philippines and Indigenous People from Luzon,
Philippines

It is expected that you will be doing the pre-test, activities/exercises

and posttest independently to ensure learning even not the usual “face to
face” modality. Do not allow others to do it for you for this defeat the
purpose of this module.

Reminders in using this module:

1. You are required to answer the pre-test, activities/exercises and

posttest to evaluate your learning from this module.
2. You are not allowed to do the following regarding this module:
a. photocopy of any part of this module or the module as a whole;
and
b. take pictures in any part of this module; and post it in any social
media

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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)
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INTRODUCTION

Due to occurrence of Covid 19 pandemic and in observance of

health protocols to assure the safety of the students, faculty and staff
of the University, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
required the higher educational institutions both public and private
to adopt flexible learning. At the Western Philippines University, we
adopted the use of learning modules as a result of study conducted
wherein not all our students have access on internet for the online
learning. The modules will be given to the students for them to
read, comprehend and work on the pretest, activities/exercises and
posttest independently.

This module on the Geographical Features of the Philippines

and Indigenous People from Luzon, Philippines will serve as an
alternative learning material to the traditional “face to face”
modality of learning. This module was developed through lifting
from varied sources, books, journals and other reading materials.

CHAPTER 1

Geographical Features of the Philippines and

Indigenous People from Luzon, Philippines

Overview
The Philippines has a total land area of 30
million hectares. Half of the country is hilly and
mostly categorized as Forest Zone and part of the
Public Domain. As of the year 2020, the country has
a population of 110 million and above. There are 112

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ethnolinguistics groups in the country who comprise nearly 15% of the total
population of the country.

The Philippines is an archipelago that consists of 7,641 islands with a

total land area of 343,448 square kilometres (132,606 sq. mi). The 11 largest
islands contain 95% of the total land area. The largest of these islands is
Luzon at about 105,000 square kilometres (40, 541 sq. mi). The next largest
is Mindanao at about 95,000 square kilometres (36,680 sq. mi).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:Ph_physical_map.png

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the chapter, you will be able to:

1. determine the geographical features of the Philippines;

2. identify the areas in Luzon occupied by the indigenous people;
3. determine the different groups of indigenous people found in Luzon; and
4. identify the culture of the different indigenous people of Luzon and
determine the similarities between groups of indigenous people.

Pre-test. Before you read the whole module, answer this pretest first. This will
give you an idea as to the content of the module. Be honest in
answering and don’t worry about your score. Your score will not be
recorded.

Test I. Identification (10 pts.)

In the pictures of geographical features of the Philippines,

identify the names and specific location. Write your answers on the
matrix provided. Copy the matrix in a separate sheet of paper and
write your answer and send it to our google classroom. Don’t forget to
write your name. Write the correct spelling of the words and wrong
spelling will be marked incorrect.

1. 2.

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3. 4.

5.

Geographical Features Location

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

In the pictures of indigenous people presented below, identify their

ethnic groups and place of residence in the Philippine islands. Write your
answers on the matrix provided. Copy the matrix in a separate sheet of
paper and write your answer and send it back to our google classroom.
Don’t forget to write your name. Write the correct spelling of the words and
wrong spelling will be marked incorrect.

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1. 2.

3.
4.

5.
Specific Name of Location
Indigenous Peoples’
Group
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Test II. Fill in the blanks. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper and
and send it back to our google classroom. Don’t forget to write your
name. Write the correct spelling of the words and wrong spelling will
be marked incorrect. (Try your best to answer the following
questions, your score will not be recorded) 15 pts.

1. The Philippines belongs to the continent of and the region of

Southeast Asia.

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2. The term is an old Tagalog meaning “people from the

mountains”.
3. The Philippine archipelago is divided into three island groups: the
, 4. ; and
5. .
6. The are known as first people, aboriginal people, or
native people.
7. is the supreme deity of the pre-Christian Bontoc.
8. is an alternate name of Tinguian.
9. is the largest lake in the Philippines.
10. are the group of indigenous people found in Mindoro.
11. is the highest point in the Philippines.
12. is the traditional world-renowned Mambabatok or tattoo
artist.
13. is the lowest point in the Philippines.
14. In 2001, the of the Ifugao was chosen as one of the 11
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
15. is the longest river in the Philippines.

Lesson 1
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, you will be able to:
1. determine the geographical features of the Philippines; and
2. identify the specific location of geographical features of the Philippines
that serve as tourist’s attractions.

Time Allotment
3 hours (three sessions)

Discussion

Geographical Features of the Philippines

The Philippines is an archipelago that

consists of 7,641 islands with a total land area of
343,448 square kilometers (132,606 sq. mi).
The 11 largest islands contain 95% of the total
land area. The largest of these islands is Luzon
at about 105,000 square kilometers (40,541 sq.
mi). The next largest island is Mindanao at
about 95,000 square kilometers (36,680 sq.
mi). The archipelago is around 800 kilometers
(500 mi) from the Asian mainland and is
located between Taiwan and Borneo.

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The Philippine archipelago is divided into three island groups:

Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Luzon islands include Luzon itself,
Palawan, Mindoro, Marinduque, Masbate, Romblon, Catanduanes,
Batanes and Polilio. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The Visayas is the group of islands in the Central File:Ph_physical_map.png
Philippines, the largest of which are: Panay,
Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Samar, Siquijor, Biliran and Guimaras. The
Mindanao islands include Mindanao itself, Dinagat, Siargao, Camiguin,
Samal, plus the Sulu Archipelago, composed primarily of Basilan, Sulu and
Tawi-Tawi. They represent the three principal regions of the archipelago
that are identified by the three stars on the Philippine flag. The Philippines
is broken up by the sea, which gives it one of the longest coastlines of any
nation in the world.

The Philippines is slowly losing its forest cover and has to cope with an
influx of mining activities in the uplands. Furthermore, demand for land and
natural resources continue to rise with the unabated migration of lowland
families into the mountains. Thus, there exists a very volatile mix of
stakeholders who are in a very strict competition for the limited resources of
the uplands. A vast majority of the 12 million populations of indigenous
peoples in the Philippines reside in the uplands which they claim as part of
their traditional territories. Most of the remaining natural resources in the
country are found within the traditional lands of the indigenous peoples.

Geography of the Philippines

Continent Asia
Region Southeast Asia
Coordinates 13000’N 122000’E
Area Ranked 64th
Total 343,448 km2
Land 99.38%
Water 0.62%
Coastline 36,289 km (22,549 mi)
Borders None
Highest Point Mount Apo (2,954 meters, 9,692 ft)
Lowest Point Galathea Depth (10,540 meters, 34,580 ft (sea level)
Longest River Cagayan River
Largest Lake Laguna de Bay

Physical Geography

The Philippine archipelago lies in Southeast Asia in a position that has

led to its becoming cultural crossroads – a place where Malays, Hindus,
Arabs, Chinese, Spaniards, Americans, and others had interacted to forge a
unique cultural racial blend. Off the coast of eastern Mindanao is the
Philippine Trench, which descends to a depth of 10,430 meters (34,220 ft).
The Philippines is a part of Western Pacific Arc system characterized by
active volcanoes. Among the most notable peaks are Mount Mayon near

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Legaspi City, Taal Volcano South of Manila, and Mount Apo in Mindanao.
All of the Philippine islands are prone to earthquakes.

The Northern Luzon highlands, or Cordillera Central, rise between

2,500 meters (8,200 ft) and 2,750 meters (9,020 ft), and, together with the
Sierra Madre in the northeastern portion of Luzon and the mountains of
Mindanao, boast rain forests that provide refuge for numerous upland tribal
groups. The rain forests also offer prime habitat for more than 500 species of
birds, including the Philippine eagle (or monkey-eating eagle), some 1,100
species of orchids, and some 8,500 species of flowering plants.

The country’s most extensive river systems are the Pulangi River, which
flows into the Mindanao River (Rio Grande de Mindanao); the Agusan, in
Mindanao which flows north into the Mindanao Sea; the Cagayan in
Northern Luzon; and the Pampanga, which flows south from east Central
Luzon into Manila Bay. Laguna de Bay, East of Manila Bay, is the largest
freshwater lake in the Philippines. Several rivers have been harnessed for
hydroelectric power. To prevent the country’s biological resources, the
government has taken a first step of preparing a Biodiversity Action Plan to
address conservation of threatened species.

Topography

The islands are volcanic in

origin, being part of the Pacific
Ring of Fire, and are mostly
mountainous. The highest point in
the country is the peak of Mount
Apo in Mindanao, which is 2,954
meters (9,692 ft) above sea level.
The second highest point can be
found on Luzon at Mount Pulag, a
peak 2,842 meters (9,324 ft) above
sea level.

The Philippine Archipelago is

geologically part of the Philippine
Mobile Belt located between the
Philippine
Sea Plate, the South
China Sea
Basin of the Eurasian Plate, and the Sunda Plate.

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The Philippine Trench (also called the Mindanao Trench) is a submarine

trench 1,320 kilometers (820 ml) in length found directly east of the
Philippine Mobile Belt and is the result of a collision of tectonic plates. The
Philippine Sea Plate is subducting under the Philippine Mobile Belt at the
rate of about 16 centimeters (6.3 in) per year. Its deepest point, the Galathea
Depth, has a depth of 10,540 meters (34,580 ft).

The Philippine Fault System consists of a series of seismic faults that

produce several earthquakes per year, most of which are not felt.

Many volcanoes in the country are active, the most recent eruption being
that of Mount Pinatubo on Luzon in 1991. Mount Mayon is another of the
active volcanoes and has the world’s most perfectly shaped cone. Mayon has
a violent history of 47 eruptions since 1616 and another violent eruption is
currently feared. Taal Volcano, also located on Luzon, is one of the Decade
Volcanoes. Most of the islands used to be covered by tropical rainforests.
However, illegal logging has reduced forest cover to less than 10% of the total
land area.

Activity/Exercise

Complete the Table below: Copy the table in a separate sheet of paper, send
it back to our google classroom.

Geographical Location Characteristics

Features (Enumerate at least two (2) most
important characteristics)
1. Banaue Rice 1. 2.
Terraces
2. Laguna Lake 1. 2.

3. Mayon Volcano 1. 2.

4. Mount Apo 1. 2.

5. Cagayan River 1. 2.

6. Taal Volcano 1. 2.

7. Mount Pulag 1. 2.

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8. Pulangi River 1. 2.

9. Galathea Depth 1. 2.

10. Mount 1. 2.
Pinatubo

Posttest

Test I. Fill in the blanks. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper
and send it back to our google classroom. Don’t forget to write your
name. Write the correct spelling of the word (s) and wrong spelling
will be marked incorrect (20 pts.)

1. The Philippines has a total land area of million hectares.

2. The country’s most extensive river systems are the , which
flows into the Mindanao River (Rio Grande de Mindanao);
3. the , in Mindanao which flows north into the Mindanao
Sea;
4. the , in Northern Luzon;
5. and the , which flows south from east Central Luzon into
Manila Bay.
6. There are ethnolinguistics groups in the country who comprise
nearly 15% of the total population of the country.
7. is the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines.
8. The lowest point in the Philippines is________ with a depth of 10,540
meters.
9. The Philippine islands are volcanic in origin, being part of the
, and are mostly mountainous.
10. The Philippines is an archipelago that consists of islands.
11. is the longest river in the Philippines.
12. The second largest island in the Philippines is at about
95,000 square kilometres
13. The largest islands contain 95% of the land area.
14. The highest point in the country is the peak of in
Mindanao, which is 2,954 meters above sea level.
15. is one of the active volcanoes in the Philippines and has the world’s most
perfectly shaped cone.
16. The is consists of a series of seismic
faults that produce several earthquakes per year, most of which are not
felt. 17. , located on Luzon, is one of the Decade
Volcanoes.
18. The is a submarine trench 1,320 kilometers in
length found directly east of the Philippine Mobile Belt and is the result of
a collision of tectonic plates.

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19. The Philippine Archipelago is geologically part of

located between the Philippine Sea Plate, the South China Sea Basin of the
Eurasian Plate, and the Sunda Plate.
20. The volcano in Luzon erupted in 1991.

Test II. Identification (10 pts.)

In the pictures of geographical features of the Philippines, identify

the names and specific location. Write your answers on the matrix
provided. Copy the matrix in a separate sheet of paper and write your
answer and send it back to our google classroom. Don’t forget to write
your name. Write the correct spelling of the words and wrong spelling
will be marked incorrect.

1. 2.

3. 4.

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5.
Geographical Features Specific Location

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Test III. Discussions. Copy the question in a separate sheet of paper and write
your answer and send it back to our google classroom. Don’t forget to
write your name (10 pts).

1. In your honest opinion, what are the reasons that most of our indigenous
people preferred to stay in mountainous geographical features? Write your
answers on the spaces provided.

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Lesson 2

Indigenous People of Luzon

Learning Outcomes

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

1. identify the indigenous people from Luzon;

2. learn their culture,
3. identify the similarities and differences between Igorot groups and
between Mangyan groups; and
4. determine the similarities and differences among all groups of indigenous
people of Luzon.

Time Allocation 14 hours (14 sessions)

Discussion

What is INDIGENOUS
PEOPLE?

Definition of Indigenous People

Indigenous peoples, also known as first peoples, aboriginal

peoples or native peoples, are ethnic groups who are the original
inhabitants of a given region, in contrast to groups that have settled, occupied
or colonized the area more recently.
Groups are usually described as indigenous when they maintain traditions or
other aspects of an early culture that is associated with a given region.

The adjective
indigenous was
historically used to describe
animals and plant origins.
During the late twentieth
century, the term
indigenous people began
to be used to describe a
legal category in indigenous
https://aapi-
law created in international up.tumblr.com/post/181066743410/understand
and national legislations; it ing-indigenous-people-in-the-philippines
refers to culturally distinct
groups affected by colonization. It is derived from the Latin word indigena,
which is based on the root gen – “to be born” with an archaic form of the

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prefix in “in”. Any given people, ethnic group or community may be described
as indigenous in reference to some particular region or location that they see
as their traditional native land claim. The use of the term peoples in
association is derived from the 19th century anthropological and ethnographic
disciplines that Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines as “a body of persons
that are unified by a common culture, tradition, or sense of kinship, which
typically have common language, institutions, and beliefs, and often constitute
a politically organized group.

James Anaya, former Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous

Peoples, has defined indigenous peoples as “living descendants of pre-
invasion inhabitants of lands now dominated by others. They are culturally
distinct groups that find themselves engulfed by other settler societies born of
forces of empire and conquest”.

As defined by the Indigenous People’s Rights Act of 1997 (RA No. 8371,
or simply IPRA), indigenous peoples (and/or indigenous cultural
communities) are a group of people or homogenous societies identified by self-
ascription and ascription by others; continuously live as organized community
on communally bounded and defined territory; have under claims of
ownership since time immemorial, occupied, possessed, and utilized such
territories, sharing common bonds of language, customs, traditions and other
distinctive cultural traits; through resistance to political, social and cultural
inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and culture, became highly
differentiated from the majority of Filipinos.

Indigenous peoples are regarded indigenous on account of their descent

from the population which inhabited the country, at the time of the conquest
or colonization, or at the time of inroads on non-indigenous religions and
cultures, or the establishment of present state boundaries, and

Indigenous peoples are those who may have retained some or all of their
own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may have
been displaced from their traditional domains or who may have resettled
outside their ancestral domains.

National Definitions
Throughout history, different states designate the groups within their
boundaries that are recognized as indigenous peoples according to
international or national legislation by different terms. Indigenous people
also include people indigenous based on their descent from populations that
inhabited the country when non-indigenous religions and cultures arrived –
or at the establishment of present state boundaries – who retain some or all of
their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may
have been displaced from their traditional. The status of the indigenous
groups in the subjugated relationship can be characterized in most instances
as an effectively marginalized, isolated or minimally participative one, in
comparison to majority groups or the nation-state as a whole. Their ability to
influence and participate in the external policies that may exercise jurisdiction

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over their traditional lands and practices is very frequently limited. This
situation can persist even in the case where the indigenous population
outnumbers that of the other inhabitants of the region or state; defining
notion here is one of separation from decision and regulatory processes that
have some, at least titular, influence over aspects of their community and land
rights.

Now that you’ve already knew the definition of indigenous people. Let us
explore together the indigenous people’s communities in Luzon, Philippines.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
COMMUNITIES IN LUZON

IGOROT GROUPS

Inhabiting the rugged terrain of the Cordillera Region of Northern

Philippines are six ethnolinguistic tribes known as the Ibaloy, Kankana-ey,
Ifugao, Kalinga, Apayao/Isneg and the Bontoc. They are referred to by a
generic term, Igorot, a word coined from the root word “golot” meaning
mountain. Unlike most of the Philippines, which were ruled by Spaniards for
about four hundred years, the Cordillera region was generally unfazed by
Spanish colonization. The Igorot tribes are held together by their common
socio-cultural traits as well as their geographic proximity to each other.
During pre-Christian Cordillera (and to some extent, the present), the six
different tribes shared similar religious beliefs, generally nature related and
they make proprietary offerings to “anitos” as well as to household gods.

The term Igorot is an old Tagalog word meaning “people from the
mountains” and is a general term used to include all of the mountain tribes
from the Cordilleras. The Spanish adopted this term but the Spanish were
never able to fully penetrate the Cordilleras during their

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fptop.only.wip.la%3A443%2Fhttps%2Ftwitter.co 300
year colonial period in
m%2Faaronnabus%2Fstatus%2F967427305357258753&psig=AOvVa the Philippines and thus had
w358UevMXIJcgP6ICsazDk&ust=1616485625862000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAI very little
influence on the QjRxqFwoTCODN3Za1w-8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD Igorot people and their
way
of life. Part of this was likely due to the rugged terrain of the area but also
because of the fierce nature of the people, who not surrender easily to
outsiders. It wasn’t until the early 1900’s when the American Episcopal
Church came into some areas of the Cordillera and people start to convert to
Christianity and get formal education.

One of the unique aspects of life in the Cordilleras is that the Igorot
people are essentially a self-contained society running all aspects of life from
businesses to politics. Unlike many of the other tribes or indigenous
communities in the country who have been extremely marginalized and
pushed to small pieces of their original land, the Igorot people, generally
have maintained much of their land.

Cultural elements common to the Igorot peoples as a whole include

metalworking in iron and brass, weaving and animal sacrifice. They believe in
spirits, including those of ancestors, and have complex rituals to propitiate
them. There are no clans or tribes, and political organization is generally
limited to the village level. Kinship is traced on both the paternal and
maternal sides, extending as far as third cousins.

Bontoc

Photo of a Bontoc warrior Bontoc woman with her

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(1908) famous tattoo on hands

The Bontocs (alternatively spelled Bontok) live on the banks of the Chico
River in the Central Mountain Province. They speak the Bontoc language.
They formerly practiced head-hunting and had distinctive body tattoos. The
Bontoc describe three types of tattoos: the chak-lag’, the tattooed chest of
the head taker; pong’o, the tattooed arms of men and women; and fa’tek,
for all other tattoos of both sexes. Women were tattooed on the arms only. In
the past, the Bontoc engaged in none of the usual pastimes of games of chance
practiced in other areas of the country, but did a circular rhythmic dance
acting out certain aspects of the hunt, always accompanied by the gang’-sa or
bronze gong. There was no singing or talking during the dance drama, but the
women took part, usually outside the circumference. It was a serious but
pleasurable event for all concerned, including the children. Present-day
Bontocs are a peaceful agricultural people who have, by choice, retained most
of their traditional culture despite frequent contacts with other groups.

The pre-Christian Bontoc belief systems centers on a hierarchy of spirits,

the highest being a supreme deity called Lumawig. Lumawig personifies the
forces of nature and is the legendary creator, friend, and teacher of Bontoc. A
hereditary class of priests hold various monthly ceremonies for this deity for
their crops, the weather, and for healing. The Bontoc also believe in the
“anito”-spirits of the dead who must be consulted before anything is done.
Ancestral anitos are invited to family feasts when a death occurs to ensure the
well-being of the deceased’s soul. This is by offering some small amount of
food to show that they are invited and not forgotten. The Bontoc social
structure used to be centered around village wards (ato) containing about 14
to 50 homes. Traditionally, young men and women lived in dormitories and
ate meals with their families. This gradually changed with the advent of
Christianity.

In general, however, it can be said that all Bontocs are very aware of
their own way of life and are not overly eager to change.

Culture

The highland town of Bontoc is home to two National Cultural

Treasures of the Philippines. These are the Stone Agricultural Calendar of
Bontoc and Petroglyphs of Alab.

The Alab petroglyphs are ancient figures

carved on mountain walls by the prehistoric
people of Bontoc. The petroglyphs are the
most important ancient rock art carvings in
the Cordilleras and the second oldest in the
entire country, second only to Angono
petroglyphs of Rizal. Due to its high
significance, it was submitted by the National
Commission for Culture and Arts of the

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Philippines to the UNESCO Tentative List of Heritage Sites in 2006, pending

its inclusion in the World Heritage List along with the Singanapan charcoal-
drawn petrographs of Southern Palawan, Angono petroglyps of Rizal
province, charcoal-drawn Peňablanca petrographs of https://www.edmaration.com/20
Cagayan, and the Anda red hematite print 13/07/alab-petroglyphs8.html
petrographs of Bohol.

The Bontoc people have their own indigenous religion that has been
preserved for centuries. They believe in a unique pantheon of deities, of which
the supreme god is the cultural hero. Lumawig, son of Kabunian. There are
many sacred sites associated with
Lumawig and a variety of Bontoc
deities. Oral tradition tells that
Lumawig instilled five great lessons to
the Bontoc people, namely: (1) a man
must not steal; (2) one should not
gossip; (3) men and women should not
commit adultery; (4) one must be
temperate in eating and in drinking
alcoholic drinks, and (5) and all
people must live
simple and industrious
lives.
On the left side is the artwork of Rodel Tapaya illustrating the
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0733/865 miracles of Lumawig .
5/files/Lumawig_Igorot_1024x1024.jpg?10

194342781339639142

Bontoc Religion and Arts

Traditional religion remains strong among the Bontoc, especially spirits

associated with the dead. These spirits, known as anito live in a spirit world
in the mountains that is not unlike the one people live in. They are consulted
on all characterized matters and relay their answers through bird calls.
Lumawig is the supreme deity. The patay are hereditary clan of preachers
who conduct ceremonies to honor Lumawig.

In 1912 Cornelis De Willcox wrote in “The Head Hunters of Northern

Luzon”. The highlanders believe in bird signs and omens drawn from animals
generally. A party sent out to arrest a criminal had been ordered to cross the
river a designated point. Returning without their man, the chief was asked
where they had crossed and on answering at so and so (a different point from
the one ordered) was asked why he had disobeyed orders, it seems that a crow
had flown along the bank a little way, and flying over, had alighted in a tree
and looked fixedly at the party. This was enough they simply had to cross at
this point. Sent out again, the next day a snake wriggled across the trail
whereupon the chief exclaimed joyfully that he knew now they would get this

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man at such a spot and by one o’clock that the snake showed this must
happen. Unfortunately it did so happen.

Indigenous Bontok Religion

Immortals
1. Intutungcho (Kabunian), the supreme deity living above. Father of
Lumawig and two other sons
2. Lumawig, also referred as the supreme deity and the second son of
Kabunian, an epic hero who taught the Bontoc their five core values for
an egalitarian society
3. First son of Kabunian
4. Third son of Kabunian
5. Chai-chai, the god of the sun who’s son’s head was cut off by Kabigat,
aided the god Lumawig in finding a spouse.
6. Kabigat, the goddess of the moon who cut off the head of Chai-chai’s
son, her action is the origin of headhunting
7. Son of Chai-chai, his head was cut off by Kabigat, revived by Chai-
chai, who bear no ill will against Kabigat
8. Ob-obanan, a deity whose white hair is inhabited by insects, ants,
centipedes and all the vermins that bother mankind, punished a man for
his rudeness by giving him a basket filled with all the insects and reptiles
in the world
9. Chacha, the god of warriors
10. Ked-Yem, the god of blacksmiths who cut off the heads of the two sons
of Chacha because they were destroying his work and was later
challenged by Chacha which eventually led into a pechen pact to stop the
fighting
11. Two sons of Chacha, beheaded by Ked Yem because they were
destroying his work.

Mortals
1. Fucan younger of the two girls met by Lumawig in Lanao, married to
Lumawig; later adopted the name Cayapon, died after dancing in a tattoo
way, which led to death being the norm among mortals.
2. Two sons of Cayapon, the two children of Lumawig and Fucan, helped
the people of Caneo, who afterwards killed by the two brothers.
3. Balanga father of the two girls met by Lumawig in Lanao

Arts
The Bontoc work metal and make spear blades with double-piston
bellows. Each villages has traditionally specialized in a single craft baskets,
pottery, beeswax, fermented sugarcane juice, spear blades and breech clothes.
Healing ceremonies do not include singing or dancing and patay do not go into
a trance. The Bontoc dance in circles to gong music.

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Bontoc Children

The Bontocs has sixteen wards or atos and each ato has its meeting
place, consisting of a circle of small boulders, where the men assemble to
discuss matters affecting the ato, such as war and peace, for the ato is the
political unit, and not the village as a whole. A remarkable thing is the family
life, or lack of it rather. As soon as children are three or four years old, they
leave the roof under which they were born and go to sleep. The boys in a sort
of dormitory called pabajunan, occupied as well by the unmarried men and
the girls in one called olog. The children go on sleeping in their respective
pabajunan and olog until they are grown up and married. A sort of that
marriage seems to exist, the young men freely visit the olog-indeed are
expected to. If results follow, it is a marriage and the couple go to
housekeeping, otherwise all the parties in interest are free. Marriage ties are
respected, adultery being punished with death but a man may have more than
one wife, though usually that number is not exceeded. There was man who
maintains in his desire for issue, but without avail a regular harem, having no
fewer than fifteen wives in different villages, he being a rich man.

Bontoc Wedding

The Bontoc wedding starts with the delivery of faratong (black beans)
from the girl to a bachelor signifying the bride’s intention to marry.
Afterwards, the bride’s family sends out what is known as the khakhu (salted
pork) to the groom’s family. This is countered by the sending of sapa
(glutinous rice). These food items are distributed to their respective family
members, including their relatives. An important rite called insukatan nan
makan (exchange of food) follows. Here one of the groom’s parents, after
receiving an invitation, must go to the bride’s house and have breakfast with
them (later the groom’s parents, also invite a bride’s parent for a similar meal.
The next step is the farey. The bride and kaulog (girlfriend) will visit the
house of the groom. This is when they start entering each other’s houses.
They will have to leave immediately also, but they will be invited again on the
following morning for breakfast. This is the start of the tongor (to align).

The next day, the bride’s parents, bearing rice and salted meat, will go to
the groom’s house for the kamat (to sew tight). A kaulog of the bride and
the groom’s best friend is likewise invited. The evening will be the start of the
karang or the main marriage ritual. This is when the bride and groom are
finally declared as a couple to the whole community. The following morning is
the putut (to half). Here, only the immediate relatives are invited for
breakfast signifying the end of the ritual. Two days after the putut, the couple
can finally live as husband and wife but may not sleep together for the next
five days known as the atutang period. The atutang serves to validate the
marriage. The groom is instructed to bathe in spring, taking note of every
detail that comes his way, such as the characters he meets, weather changes
among others. Should anything peculiar occur he must make his way to the

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mountain to cut some wood. The bride on the other hand is sent off to weed in
the fields.

Any untoward incidents serve as warnings that the new couple must
postpone their living together or mangmang. The final stage of the
atutang involves covering smoldering charcoal with rice husks overnight.
The marriage is considered null and void if the fire goes out the morning after.
The final step is the manmanok where the bride parents invite the groom
and his parents and declare that the groom could officially sleep with the
bride. This signifies the end of the marriage ritual for most Igorots. An
optional lopis (a bigger marriage feast) could be done should the couple’s
finances allow. (Source:
kasal.com).

The Itneg

The Tinguians “the people of the

mountains” originally referred to all
mountain dwelling people. Nowadays, it
particularly refers to a cultural minority
group living in the mountains of Abra
and named Itneg.

The Tinguian culture dates back to

pre-Spanish times but in spite of strong
external forces negatively affecting their traditions, they continue to practice
their ethnic traditions.

Itneg is an alternate name of Tinguian. Tinguian means “the people of

the mountains”. It was originally used to refer to all mountain dwelling
people. These days it is particularly used to refer to a cultural minority group
occupying the mountains of Abra.

In Abra, they comprise 35 percent of the total population and occupy

about two thirds of the province’s land area. The people live in scattered
villages and cover a large area. Most of them live in settlements usually found
near the river banks. Dwellings are usually built in clusters with rice granary
and vegetable patches. Two or three adjacent settlements generally compose a
village.

Present day Tinguians resemble the Ilocanos in bodily proportions and

have adopted the Ilocano way of life. Tinguians are almost identical to the
Ilocanos. They abandoned the g-string and other extremes and they behave
and dress like their Ilocano neighbors.

In addition, the Tinguians are also influenced by education and the

“Christian religion”. During the fifties and sixties they faced an identity crisis.
But due to the new government policy on indigenous people and cultural

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minorities, many of the Tinguian elders and professionals with the help of
concerned groups tried to revive the cultural traditions and maintain/keep the
Tinguian identity which they can be proud of.

Music is an important aspect of Tinguian culture. Singing is a normal

occurrence in the community and in the work fields. Their musical
instrument are the “kalalent” (nose flute), the gangsa (copper gongs) and
the “kulintang” (guitar).

The Tinguian are a language group. They are divided into several
subgroups by dialectical differences: Adasen, Binongan, Gubang or Banao,
Inlaod-penanubia, Maeng (also called Assa), Masadlit, Moradan, and Mabaca.

The Itneg (or Apayao) inhabit the banks of the Apayao River and its
tributaries in Northern Luzon. 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.

Economic life is based on agriculture. It is the principal source of

income for the people. Agricultural products are rice, camote, yams, corn
squash, ginger, melon, sugarcane, fruits, and good quality cotton and tobacco.
Aside from being farmers, they also do fresh water fishing, weaving various
types of cloths and blanket, pottery making, and basketry.

A Tinguian village is usually headed by one of the old men or “lakay”

chosen by a council or elder members of the village. A “lakay” is chosen based
on his courage, health, wisdom and character. His role is to settle disputes in
accordance with the customs and traditions. If a dispute is serious or the
problem is new, he calls the council of elders or heads of influential families to
discuss and decide with him.

Beliefs

Traditional religion is based in the spirits or anitos, locally called

“sasailo” who are natural deities, leader spirits (good or bad), and ancestral
spirits. Spirits are revered and feared. They have adopted certain measures to
protect themselves and property. They conduct ceremonies, offer food and
drinks, and perform magical acts to ill-disposed spirits to assure good
harvests.

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The Spanish Augustinian missionaries started work in the mountains of

Abra, and converted many Tinguians. Historians wrote that many towns and
districts are now recognized as Ilocano and have Christianized Tinguians.
Some of the Catholic teachings accommodated and combined with indigenous
beliefs and practices. Present day Tinguians are Christians but they have not
totally put aside their worship, beliefs and superstitions centering around the
“sasailo” concept. They reconciled their traditional faith with Christianity.
They now believe in one supreme being who creates and controls life. The
lesser spirits are said to be similar to the patron saints of the patron saints of
the Catholic Church. Like the Catholics, they worship and ask intercession for
the religious observances that go with various paraphernalia, bamboo arches,
basi (drink offerings), and musical instruments. Protective necklaces are used
by children. Cults are in the area.

Kalinga

The name “Kalingga” is believed to have been derived from the Ibanag
word “kalinga”, both meaning headhunters. The Spaniards picked up the term
because of their headhunting tradition, and the Americans followed suit. The
Kalingas have numerous songs, such as the salidummay, the dong-dong-ay,
the oggayam, the adding, the wasani, the paliwat, the owawi, and the
dandanag. But its enduring and distinct rite is the “Bodong” that has become
an institution for peace up to this day. Kalinga is classified according to bodong
holding groups or ili, or sub-tribes, namely the Tinglayans, the Lubuagans, the
Tanudans, the Pasils, the Balbalans, the Pinukpuks, and the Tabuks (Source:
Igorot, the Cordillera Schools Group).

Inhabiting the drainage areas of the middle Chico River in the Kalinga
Province, the Kalingas are noted for their strong sense of tribal awareness and
the peace pacts they have made strong themselves. They speak the Kalinga and
Limos language. They practice both wet and dry rice farming and have
developed an institution of peace pacts which has minimized traditional warfare
and headhunting and serves as a mechanism for the initiation, maintenance,
renewal and reinforcement of kinship and ties. The Kalinga are divided into
Southern and Northern groups, the latter is considered the most heavily-
ornamented people of the northern Philippines.

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Kalinga society is very kinship-oriented and relatives are held responsible

for avenging any injury done to a member. Disputes are usually settled by the
regional leaders who listen to all sides and then impose fines on the guilty party.
These are not formal council meetings, but carry a good deal of authority. A
system of peace pacts is called Bodong.

Kalingas are also known as Limos or Limos-Liwan Kalinga. The ancestors

of this indigenous tribe carved a system of irrigated rice terraces in the
mountains of Ifugao more than 2,000 years ago

They settled on the levelled or terraced areas on the slopes of steep

mountains near rivers and streams with free, clear, running water through the
Chico, Pasig, Tanduan rivers with wide plateaus and floodplains, as well a
Tanduan rivers with wide plateaus and floodplains, as well as, large portions of
open grasslands. As a result, principal sources of livelihood among the Kalinga is
the payaw (ricefields) and the uma (swidden farm). Aside from food
production, cattle are pastured in the fields and poultry raised in the backyard.
Small fish (ugadiw), shell and marine life are gathered from the rivers.

Traditional hunting continued to be practiced and by men only, in the forest

using spears, indigenous traps or rifles for wild pigs, deer and wild fowl. Fruit
trees, coconut, coffee and bananas are grown while sugarcane is planted and
made into basi (wine). Other economic-driven activities among the Kalinga are
cloth and basket weaving, blacksmithing and pottery, they’re renowned for their
intricate hand woven textiles and magnificent, colourful beaded jewelry.

Kalinga society may be stratified into lawa or kapus (poor) and the
baknang (wealthy). Among the signs of prestige and wealth are possessions of
several ricefields, working animals, heirlooms like china plates and jars, agate
head necklaces and brass gongs. Moreover, the identification of the self with the
kinship circle could be such whatever an individual does is the responsibility of
the group, likewise, whatever threatens the security of the group must be
opposed by the individual. Therefore, many villages or ili in Kalinga are located
in strategic areas where the villages can be forewarned of intruders, or where the
surrounding terrain is rugged and form a natural defense against “tribal wars”.
Tribal wars happen when a bodong peace pact (system) was either broken or
violated. Essentially, the bodong is the most meritorious and efficient Kalinga
institution; it is a peace pact treaty between two tribes, wherein the Pagta or laws
on intertribal relations are established. The Bodong also represents the Magna
Carta of the Kalinga.

Tattoo Technique and Mambabatok Meanings

Mambabatok means tattoo artist in Kalinga. Kalinga tattoos are inspired by

objects seen in daily life, such as rice terraces, ladder, and centipedes. Some
placement of the designs on women display their social status. Men’s tattoes are
meant to have symbolic significance, as specific motifs are saved only for men in
order to communicate their bravery, battles won and how many people they have
killed.

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The tattoo tools themselves are made from an instrument constructed in

bamboo and razor sharp lemon thorns. The design is marked onto the skin using
long strips of straight grass, dipped in simple mixture of charcoal and water.
Then thorn tip is submerged in the charcoal solution before rigorously hand
tapping the piercing point into the design on the skin.

World-renowned Apo Wang-Od is the last practicing traditional

Mambabatok in the whole region. At 92 years old, time is running out for her to
pass on the time-honoured hand tapping technique and tribal motifs to her 13
year old granddaughter and apprentice. Although locals rarely practice the
tattoo tradition today, tourists are currently flocking to Buscalan village to have
the last living legend of Philippine artistry scar their skin.

Ifugao

The Ifugao (also known as Amganad, Ayangan, Kiangan, Gilipanes,

Quiangan, Tuwali Ifugao, Mayoyao, Mayaoyaw) are the people inhabiting Ifugao
Province. The term “Ifugao” is derived from “ipugo” which means “earth
people”, “mortals” or “humans” as distinguished from spirits and deities. It also
means “from the hill”, as pugo means hill. The country of the Ifugao in the
southeastern part of the Cordillera region is best known for its famous Banaue
Rice Terraces, which in modern times have become one of the major tourist
attractions of the Philippines. The Ifugaos build their typical houses called
fales, which consists of a kitchen, bedroom and a worship room altogether. It is
a triangular house elevated with 4 wooden posts. There is a ladder but it is
hanged or removed so people or animals cannot enter the fale. Aside from their
rice terraces, the Ifugaos, who speak four distinct dialects, are known for their
rich oral literary traditions of hudhud and the alim. The Ifugaos’ highest
prestige feasts are the hagabi, for the elite; and the uyauy, a feast for those
immediately below the wealthiest. In 2001, the Hudhud Chants of the Ifugao
was chosen as one of the 11 Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of
Humanity. It was then formally inscribed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural
Heritage in 2008.

“I” means “people of” and “pugaw” means the cosmic earth. The Ifugao
tribe is a group of people living in Ifugao province located in the central
Cordillera Mountains of northern Luzon. According to the Ifugao mythology,
“Ipugo” is a type of rice grain given to the people by the God of Grains,
Matungulan. Emphatically, Ifugaos are known to be the inhabitants of the

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known earth because of their source of livelihood, religious beliefs and practices
and visual arts and crafts.

https://www.thepoortraveler.net/wp -content/uploads/2012/06/Banaue-RiceTerraces.jpg

The Banaue Rice Terraces was carved and built some 2,000 years ago by
the ancestors of the Ifugao tribe. It is locally referred to as Hagdan-Hagdang
Palayan ng Banawe. It is also dubbed as “Eighth Wonders of the World”. To the
Ifugao people Rice Terraces is one of their important landscapes as a source of
nourishment for their lives. It is an enduring symbol of a people’s resilience
against nature’s disturbances. The rice culture of the Ifugao people requires
tremendous skill that was passed down from generation to generation. Ifugao
culture revolves around rice, considered a prestige crop. The diversification in
agriculture, of rice-growing while cultivating indigenous edible shells, fruit trees,
and root crops, has been exhibited among Ifugaos for generations, reflecting
their awareness in diversified but sustainable farming. The Ifugao people value
the foremost reason for maintaining this relic of the ancient past. The Ifugao
Rice Terraces serves as their daily livelihood so the people maintained this not
merely as production areas but also for the sentimental reasons that these
landscapes have been passed down from their ancestors.

The Ifugao religious beliefs and practices are conveyed in various rituals
performed by the Ifugaos for any occasions. One important practice is the agba
rite. The agba rite is practiced for the sick, comes in two forms: the crossing of
the stick, and the balancing of the egg, bean and spheroidal object on a knife
blade. In crossing of the stick, the name of the deity is mentioned, in which the
stick is believed to grow longer. On the other hand, the buyun, the egg stands
on the knife’s edge. Accordingly, it is important to determine which class of deity
caused the illness.

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The death and burial practices of the Ifugao involve several steps: the
wake over the corpse, which is tied to a chair, the cutting of the string tied to the
finger of the widow and the finger of the corpse; the procession to the place of the
burial; the walling up of the corpse in the burial place; and the ceremonies to get
rid of the dead’s person’s soul. Prayers to the Gods and telling of myths
accompany most of these steps.

Weaving is the main task of Ifugao women. Traditionally, weaving is done

for the family’s needs, but it is also done for commercial purposes. Girls learned
on how to weave by means of helping their mother or their elder sister, and by
actual training under an elder woman. Weaving instruments are made by
menfolk. Weaving is a long process and should be done with a lot of patience
beginning with the preparation of the materials; spinning; winding or known as
iwalangan; dyeing; warping the cotton threads; and finally, the actual weaving
itself, which involves two women or girls who will operate the weaving loop. The
Ifugao are known to have a hanging cloth in front and at their back.

The traditional Ifugao wear for men is called the wanno or G-string. The
part that encircles the body is worn high and tight. The ends hang loose in front
and at the back. These are rarely tucked in the G-string when the men work in
the fields. The wanno is made of dark blue cloth with a red stripe overseeing
lengthwise in the middle between two yellow lines. Weaving is not just the main
craft represented by the Ifugao, but rather, the Ifugao practices bantok ot
tattoing. They usually tattoo all the parts of their body except their back and feet,
tattoes on their body represent strength.

Indigenous Religion of the Ifugao

The Ifugao people have an indigenous religion unique to their traditional

culture, and highly significant to the preservation life ways and valued traditions.
They believed in the existence of thousands of gods, which may enter specific
sacred objects such as the bul-ul.

Immortals
• Kabunian, supreme deity and chief among the high ranking deities above
the skyworld, also referred to as Mah-nongan. Chief God generally referred
to as the honorary dead and creator of all things. In specific communities,
both the names Mah-nongan and Kabunian (also Afunijon) are understood
as the name of one chief deity, while in others, they are used to refer to many
deities.
• Afunijon, also a general term referred to the deities of heaven which is also
called Afunijon.
• Mah-nongan, also a general term for deities who are given animal
sacrifices.
• Ampual the god of the fourth skyworld who bestowed animals and plants
on the people, controls the transplanting of rice.
• Namtogan, the paraplegic god good fortune whose presence made rice
harvests and community livestock bountiful when the humans he was staying

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with at Ahin began neglecting the bulul he left causing a curse of misfortunes
the people persuaded him to return where he responded by teaching the
people how to create bululs and how to do the rituals for the statues
effectively lifting the curse.
• Bulol, household divinities that are the souls of departed ancestors usually
depicted as carved wooden statues stored in the rice granary, the ancestral
images guard the crops make the rice harvest plentiful and protects the rice
from pests and thieves and from being too quickly consumed.
• Nubulul, spouse of Bugan: a god who possesses or lives in Bulul figures,
guards the rice and make the rice harvest plentiful.
• Bugan, spouse of Nabulul, a goddess who possesses or lives in Bulul figures,
guards the rice and make the rice harvest plentiful
• Gatui, divinities associated with practical jokes, but have a malevolent side
that feast on souls and cause miscarriages
• Tagbayan, divinities associated with death that feast on human souls that
are guarded by two headed monsters called kikilan
• Imbayan also called Lingayan, divinities who guide souls after they die
• Banig, spirits of the hillsides and caves, among the Mayayao, the Banig take
in the form of an animal who does not harm anyone, despite the people being
afraid of their manifestation
• Mun-apon, deified ancestral spirits who are guardians and sources of
blessings provided by the living, they are respected, however, their blessings
could also be turned into a curse.
• Bumingi, in charge of worms, one of the eleven beings importuned to
stamp out rice pests
• Liddum, the only deity who inhabits the realm called Kabunian;
communicates directly with humans on earth; chief mediator between the
people and other gods
• Lumadab, has the power to dry up the rice leaves, one of the eleven beings
importuned to stamp out rice pests
• Mamiyo, the stretcher of skeins, one of the twenty-three deities presiding
over the art of weaving
• Manlolot, the winder of thread on the spindle, one of the twenty-three
deities presiding over the art of weaving
• Mahipnat, great spirits of sacred places
• Puwok, controls the dread typhoons
• Yogyog, a causer of earthquakes dwells in the underworld
• Alyog, a causer of earthquakes; dwells in the underworld
• Kolyog, the god of earthquakes
• Makalun, spirits that serve the function as messenger of the gods
• Himpugtan, an imbayan divinity who can terminate those that displease
him
• Munduntug, divinities from the mountains who cause hunters to be lost
• Mahipnat, great spirits of sacred places
• Bibao, spirits of ordinary places
• Halupi, divinities of remembrance

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• Fili divinities of property

• Dadungut, divinities who dwell in graveyards and tombs
• Makiubaya, divinities who watch over the gates
• Libligayu and Hibalot, spirits of sickness
• Kolkolibag, spirits who cause difficult labor
• Indu, spirits that make omens
• Hidit, divinities who give punishments to those that break taboos
• Puok, a kind of Hidit who use winds to destroy the dwellings of miners that
break taboos
• Hipag, spirits of war that give soldiers courage on the field of war but are
ferocious and cannibalistic
• Llokesin, the god of rats who figures in the myth of the first orange tree
• Bumabakal, the rejected corpse divinity of the skyworld, his dead body
resides on top of Mount Dukutan where his body fluids causes boils
• Kabigat. the god who sent a deluge which flooded the earth, married to
goddess Bugan
• Bugan, a goddess married to Kabigat, her children are a son named Wigan
and a daughter also named Bugan
• Bugan, daughter of Bugan and Kabigat stranded on earth after the great
deluge, and became one of the two ancestors of mankind
• Wigan, son of Bugan and Kabigat stranded on earth after the great deluge
and became one of the ancestors of mankind
• Dumagid, a god who lived among the people of Benguet married a mortal
woman named Dugai and had a son named Ovug
• Ovug, son of Dumagid and Dugai, was cut in half by his father, where one of
his halves was reanimated in the skyworld and the other on the earth. The
voice of the skyworld’s Ovug is the source of lightning and sharp thunder
while the voice of the earth’s Ovug is the source of low thunder
• Bangan, the god who accompanied Dumagid in claiming Ovug from the
earth
• Annitud chalom, deity of the underworld whose anger is manifested in a
sudden shaking of the earth
• Annitud angachar, deity of the sky world, causes lightning and thunder
when unsatisfied with offerings
• Mapatar, the sun deity of the sky in charge of daylight
• Bulan, the moon deity of the night in charge of nighttime
• Mi’lalabi, the star and constellation deities
• Pinacheng, a group or class of deities usually living in caves, stones, creeks,
rocks, and in every place, mislead and hide people
• Fulor, a wood carved into an image of a dead person seated on a death
chair, an antique which a spirit in it, who bring sickness death, and
unsuccessful crops when sacrifices are not offered
• Inamah, a wooden plate and a home of spirits destroying or selling it will
put the family in danger

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Mortals
• Dugai, the mortal mother of the split god Ovug, wife of the god Dumagid
• Humidhid, the headman of a village in the upstream region of Daya who
carved the first bulul statues from the haunted or supernatural tree named
Bongbong
• Unnamed Shaman prayed to the deities, Nabulul and Bugan to protect
the statues carved by Humidhid
• Wife of Namlogan, a mortal woman who the god Namlogan married

Kankanaey

The Kankanaey domain includes Western Mountain Province, northern

Benguet and southeastern Ilocos Sur. Like most Igorot ethnic groups, the
Kankanaey built sloping terraces to maximize farm space in the rugged terrain
of the Cordilleras. Kankanaey houses are built like the other Igorot houses,
which reflect their social status. Two famous institutions of the Kankanaey of
Mountain Province are the dap-ay, or the men’s dormitory and civic center,
and the ebgan, or the girls’ dormitory where courtship between young men
and women took place.

Kankanaey’s major dances include tayaw, pat-tong, takik (a

wedding dance), and balangbang. The tayaw is a community dance that is
usually done in weddings it maybe also danced by the Ibaloi but has a different
style. Pattong, also a community dance from Mountain Province which
every municipality has its own style, while Balangbang is the dance’s
modern term. There are also some other dances like the sakkuting,
pinanyuan (another wedding dance) and bogi-bogi (courtship dance).

“Hard” and “Soft” Kankanaey

The name Kankanaey came from the language which they speak. The
only difference amongst the Kankanaey are the way they speak such as
intonation and word usage. In intonation, there is distinction between those

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who speak Hard Kankanaey (Applai) and Soft Kankanaey. Speakers of Hard
Kankanaey are from the towns of Sagada and Besao in the western Mountain
Province as well as their environs. They speak Kankanaey with a hard
intonation where they differ in some words from the soft-speaking
Kankanaey. design of the upper attire is a criss-crossed style of black, white
and red colors. The skirt or tapis is a combination of stripes of black, white
and red.

Hard dialect women dress in mainly red and black with less white, with
the skirt or tapis which is mostly called bakget and gateng. The men
formerly wore a g-string known as a wanes for the Kankanaey’s for the
Kankanaey’s of Besao and Sagada. The design of the wanes may vary
according to social status or municipality.

Indigenous Kankanaey Religion

• Lumawig, the supreme deity, creator of the universe and preserver of
life.
• Bugan, married to Lumawig
• Bangan, the goddess of romance, a daughter of Bugan and Lumawig.
• Obban, the goddess of reproduction, a daughter of Bugan and Lumawig.
• Kabigat, one of the deities who contact mankind through spirits called
anito
and their ancestral spirits
• Balitok, one of the spirits who contact mankind through spirits called
anito
and their ancestral spirits
• Wigan, one of the spirits who contact mankind through spirits called
anito
and their ancestral spirits
• Timugan, two brothers who look their sankah (handspades) and
kayabang (baskets) and dug a hole into the lower world. Aduongan
interrupted by the deity Masaken one of the two agreed to marry
Masaken’s daughter but they both went back to earth when they found
out that the people of Aduongan were cannibals.
• Masaken, ruler of the underworld who interrupted the Timugan
brothers.

Ibaloi

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The Ibaloi (also Ibaloy and

Nabaloi) and Kalanguya (also
called Kallahan and Ikalahan)
are one of the indigenous
peoples of the Philippines who
live mostly in the Southern
part of Benguet, located in the
Cordillera of Northern Luzon,
and Nueva Vizcaya in the
Cagayan Valley region. They
were traditionally an agrarian
society. Many of the Ibaloi
and
and Kalanguya people continue https://i.pinimg.com/originals/10/f6/96/10f6 with
their agriculture and rice 961f1d6d7157ee28af5878893744.jpg cultivation. Many of
the Ibaloi and and Kalanguya people continue with their agriculture and rice
cultivation. Their native language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch
of the Austronesian languages family and is closely related to the Pangasinan
language, primarily spoken in the province of Pangasinan, located southwest
of Benguet. Baguio City, the major city of the Cordillera, dubbed the
“Summer Capital of the Philippines,” is located in southern Benguet. The
largest feast of the Ibaloi is the Pesshet, a public feast mainly sponsored by
people of prestige and wealth. Pesshet can last for weeks and involves the
killing and sacrifice of dozens of animals. One of the more popular dances of
the Ibaloi is the Bendiyan Dance, participated in by hundreds of male and
female dancers.

The Ibaloi are indigenous ethnic group found in Benguet Province of the
Northern Philippines. The native language is ibaloi, also known as inbaloi or
nabaloi. Ibaloi is derived from i-a prefix signifying “pertaining to” and badoy
or house, together then meaning “people who live in houses”.

Indigenous Ibaloi Religion

Immortals
• Kabunian, the supreme deity and the origin of rice. Kabunian is also the
general term for deities
• Moon Deity, the deity who teased Kabunian for not yet having a spouse
• Child of Kabunian, the child of Kabunian with a mortal woman, split in
half where one part become lightning and the other part become thunder
• Matono, a brave woman who adventured into the underworld and saw the
causes of poor crops and earthquakes, she afterwards reported her studies to
the people of the earth during the kosdey, the people pray to her to not
permit the rice, camotes and other things to grow down but cause them to
grow up.
• Kabigat (of where the water rises) journeyed into the underworld to
retrieve trees which became the forests of the middle world.
• Kabigat (of where the water empties) taught (of when the water empties)
on how to safely get trees from the underworld.

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• Maseken, ruler of the underworld with green eyebrows, red eyes and a tail.
• Kabigat (of the east), a large man in the east who adopted Bangan.
• Bangan, son of Otot and adopted by Kabigat, a kind young man who loved
both his father and foster-father, share gold to the world
• Otot, a large man in the west who perished due to an accident while
travelling with his son, Bangan; a tree of gold rose from his burial, where
Kabunian fell the tree and all gold on earth scattered from it.
• Sun God, the deity who pushed up the skyworld and pushed down the
underworld, creating the earth, after he was hit by a man’s arrow during the
war between the peoples of the skyworld and the underworld.

Ancient Tradition of Mummification

The Ibalois, especially the

affluent families, have an ancient
tradition of preserving a loved one’s
dead body through mummification.
It is a complicated process that takes
about weeks or months and
sometimes even years to accomplish.
The corpse is properly cleaned and
covered in salt and herbs before it is
placed over a fire in a seated
position. Meanwhile, tobacco smoke
is blown
http://alexisduclos.com/wp- into the cadaver’s mouth to dry its
content/uploads/2019/01/Eyedea_ga6789 internal organs. This process helps
07_18-1024x676.jpg remove fluids from the body.

During the early 20th century, several mummified remains were found
enshrined in different caves In different caves in the Cordillera Mountain. The
remains were enclosed in oval-shaped coffee estimated by scientists to date
back between 1200 and 1500 CE. The mountain is considered sacred and
believed to be inhabited by ancestral spirits. To appease these spirits, the
locals pay respect through offerings and rituals. The municipality of Kabayan
houses the mummies for the deceased Ibalois and is recognized as the center
of Ibaloi culture.

Currently, more than a hundred man-made burial caves have been

found in the region, with 15 of the caves containing preserved human
mummies. The Kabayan Museum in Benguet was named among the 100 most
endangered sites in the world. It housed four mummies that were eventually
returned to the Timbac Caves in February 2004. There are still between 50 to
80 mummies left in their natural caves in Benguet. This ancient practice has
since died beginning in the 1500s when the Philippines was colonized by
Spain.

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Caňao Tradition

A popular native feast amongst the Ibalois is the Caňao Tradition. It is

a thanksgiving ritual that refers to several native feasts of the Ibaloi and
Benguet people. There are different types of caňao ceremonies, most of which
involve massive preparations and revelry. Among the most extravagant
observances is the Pechit of Pesshet that entails feeding the whole
neighbourhood. It involves sacrificing animals as well as an offering of rice
wine or tapuy.

A ritual is performed to appease the spirits, seek approval, or simply to

give thanks or appreciation. Tapuy is an important offering since rice was a
special commodity in the past and was only served during special occasions.
Some lavish celebrations could take up to a week of merrymaking where
people incessantly sing and dance. A number of the traditional ceremonials
are still carried out despite the new developments surrounding the mountains
of the Cordillera today. The Ibaloi and the Benguet people still hang on to the
ideas of supreme beings and spirits that influence their way of living. Theirs is
a deeprooted tradition that transcends generations.

Ilongot

The Ilongot (also Bugkalot or Ibilao) are a tribe who inhabit the
southern
Sierra Madre and Caraballo Mountains, on the east side of Luzon in the
Philippines, primarily in the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija and
along the mountain border between the provinces of Quirino and Aurora.
They were formerly headhunters.

Presently, there are about 87,000 Ilongots. They tend to inhabit areas
close to the rivers, as they provide a food source and a means of
transportation. Their native language is the Ilongot language, currently
spoken by about 50,000 people. They also speak the Ilocano language.

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The Ilongot are a forest people that live in Nueva Vizcaya Province
Province in Luzon. Also known as the Ibilao, Ibilaw, Ilungot, Ilyongt,
Lingotes, they are former headhunters and live in an enclave and have
resisted attempts to assimilate them (Source: Encyclopedia of World
Cultures, East and Southeast Asia edited by Paul Hockings (G.K. Hall &
Company, 1993).

The Ilongot are primarily in slash-and-burn agriculturalist, hunters and

fishermen. They grow maize, manioc, rice, tobacco, sugar and vegetables and
moves their fields once a year. Fields cleared from virgin forest are used for
five years and left to fallow for eight years. The men hunt with dogs several
times a week and all meat is shared equally among all the households and
consumed immediately. Sometimes longer hunting trips take place. Here
the meat is dried. Fish are taken with nets, traps, spears and poison.

The Ilongot also collectforest products such as rattan for their own use
and to trade, forge their own knives, picks and hoes item they obtain through
trade include bullets, cloth, knives, liquor and salt. Much of the trading is
done to obtain goods for bride payments.

Traditional Ilongot religion revolves around helpful and dangerous

supernatural beings. Shaman presides over curing ceremonies, and spirits
are kept away by bathing, smoking and sweeping. Before the 1950’s, when
Protestants missionaries arrived in their homelands, the Ilongot had never
been exposed to major world religions. Now many are evangelical Christians.

The Ilongot are buried in a sitting position. If a woman died in

childbirth or experienced a violent death her hands tied to her feet to prevent
her “ghost” from roaming.

Ilongot Society

There is no formal leadership in Ilongot society. Informal leadership

lies with sons and brothers who have oratorical skills and have acquired
knowledge of myths, ceremonies and genealogies. The oratorical skills are
known as purun, which women reportedly cannot understand.

Disputes are sometimes settled by giving offenders ordeals to establish

their innocence. More often than not they evolve into feuds settled through
head hunting raids. A death in a household requires a young man in that
house to avenge it. A pig is sacrificed when headhunters return. Some feuds
are settled with negotiations and exchanges. Many go on for a long time.

Young men are expected to engage in a successful head hunt before

marriage. Prospective marriage partners usually exchange gifts, work
together in the fields and have sex before they get married. Pregnancy
speeds up the process which is finalized until the two families who are going
to be unified settled all their disputes. Marriages are usually monogamous
and cousins are preferred partners.

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Ilongot youth have traditionally had their teeth filed as an act of

initiation into adulthood. In 1947, Laurence Lee Wilson wrote “Sometime in
their middle teens, the maidens and youth have their teeth filed down. A
group of her boyfriends will rally round a girl in her house and hold her down
tight while one cuts her teeth down – no matter how much she screams from
the excruciating pain. After the operation, one lad will take a pencil-sized
twig from a guava tree or the stem of a batac plant, heat it in the fire, and rub
the warm bark on the teeth, thus, stopping the blood and easing the pain.
Thereafter the shortened teeth are strong for chewing even bones, and
picking the teeth after eating is unnecessary. When it is all over, wreaths are
hung up and a gala time is had with the basi (fermented wine), chicken and
rice (Source: Teresita R. Infante, kasal.com).

Ilongot Life

The Ilongot have traditionally lived a semi-nomadic life in groups with

around 180 or so members. Each groups is made up of “several settlements,
which in turn have four to nine household, with five to 15 nuclear families
and 40 to 70 individuals. Settlements are set up by their fields and are
moved whenever they clear new fields. Houses are built on pilings 15 feet off
the ground and have walls made of grass and bamboo.

Members of the Ilongot tribe are probably the closest things to real
Tarzans. Using 30 foot pieces of rattan Ilongots travel through the thick
jungle by swinging from tree to tree. One end of the rattan has a hook on it
which is hooked around a tree limb. Holding on to the vine with their hands
and toes the tribesmen are able to swing from one branch to another.

The Ilongots wear plain or dark blue loincloths with a colored band
around the hips. A long red or black band is tied around the hands and no
shoes are worn. Their handmade guitars often use human hair for strings.

Ilongot Indigenous Religion

• Delan, deity of the moon, worshipped with the sun and stars; congenial
with Elag; during quarrels, Elag sometimes covers Delan’s face, causing
the different phases of the moon; giver of light and growth
• Elag, deity of the sun, worshipped with the moon and stars; has a
magnificient house in the sky realm called Gacay; retreats to his home
during nights; giver of light and growth
• Pandac, deity of the stars, worshipped with the sun and moon; giver of
light and growth.
• Cain, the headhunter creator of mankind; gave customs to the people;
lived together with Abel in the sky but separated due to a quarrel
• Abel, prayed to when wishing long lives for children; lived together with
Cain in the sky but separated due to a quarrel
• Keat, personification of lightning, depicted as the road of Cain and Abel
• Kidu, personification of thunder, which follows Keat

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• Gemang, guardian of wild beasts

• Oden, deity of the rain, worshipped for its life-giving waters
• Tawen, personification of the sky
• Kalao, spirit birds, depicted as red hornbills who guide and protect
hunters and their soul
• Be’tang, unpredictable shape-shifting spirit-creatures living in the
forests or wilderness called Gongot: youth and softness are their
properties, while they can also alter a a human’s sense of time; they may
take the form of a white dog, a large deer, a horse with a hanging tongue,
a naked woman, or beings with a grotesque shapes, whose attributes
range from long arms and legs, small heads, oversized feet, fur bodies to
hairless bodies, they may also enter a person’s dreams or paralyze a
human.
• Ga’ek Spirits, spirits in the Ga’ek magic plant used in relation to
hunting and fishing; the naw-naw prayer is given to them.
Aeta

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d6/7a/71/d67a71bcec8d282fb49ad82ef170aaa0.jpg

The Aetas (or Agta or Ayta) are one of the earliest inhabitants of the
Philippines who are now living in scattered mountain areas of the country
(www.aetatribes.org).

Over the years, the majority of their population managed to keep their
cultural practice and traditions. According to historians, the Aetas (also
known as Agtas) are AustraloMelanesians. Historical accounts suggests that
they are of the same groups as those aborigines in Australia and Melanesians
of Solomon Islands. While they closely resemble in physical characteristics
such as curly hair and dark colored skin, it is not clear as to how they arrived

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in the Philippines. Most historians point to the Bering Land Bridge Theory to
explain the history of the Aetas. This theory suggests that the Aetas reached
the Philippines because of the land bridges or narrow strait that connected all
land masses in the world. According to this theory, hunters at that time
crossed these land bridges but due to movement of plates underneath the
Earth’s surface, these migration paths eventually disappeared. Therefore,
even those with no intent to colonize new lands, were unable to return to
their original home (Valdeavilla, 2018).

As nomadic people, Aeta communities typically consist of

approximately 1 to 5 families of mobile group. Because they are usually
scattered in mountainous areas, the Spaniards had a hard time introducing
Catholicism to their population. They mostly resisted to change, which made
it difficult for the Spanish to colonize their areas. This is also one of the
reasons why they were able to preserve their cultural traditions and beliefs
through to today.

Ancestral Lands

Aetas are found in Zambales, Tarlac, Pampanga, Panay, Bataan and

Nueva Ecija, but were forced to move to resettlement in Pampanga and
Tarlac following the devastating Mount Pinatubo eruption in June 1991.
Some Aeta communities have received government land titles recognizing
their claims to their ancestral lands.

A total of 454 Aeta families in Floridablanca, Pampanga received their

Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) on May 27, 2009. The title
covers 7,440.10 hectares in San Marcelino and Brgy. Batiawan in Zambales
and Barangays Mawakal and Nabuklod in Floridablanca. It was the first time
clean ancestral domain titles were distributed by the National Commission of
Indigenous People. The Aeta Abellen Community of Sitio Maporac,
Barangay New San Juan, Cabangan, Zambales, received the first Philippine
Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC) on March 8, 1996. The CADT
was acquired 16 years later in December 2010.

Lifestyle

The Aeta are nomadic and build only temporary shelters made of sticks
driven to the ground and covered with the palm of banana leaves. The more
modernized Aetas have moved to villages and areas of cleared mountains.
They live in houses made of bamboo and cogon grass. Mining, deforestation,
illegal logging, and slash and burn farming have caused the indigenous
population in the country to steadily decrease to the point where they
number only in thousands today. The government affords them little
protection and the Aeta have become extremely nomadic due to social and
economic strain on their culture and way of life that had previously remained
unchanged for thousand of years.

As hunter-gatherers, adaptation plays an important role in Aeta

communities to survive. This often includes gaining knowledge about the

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tropical forest that they live in, the thyphoon cycles that travel through their
area, and other seasonal weather changes that affcct the behavior of the flora
and fauna in their location. Another important survival skill is storytelling.
Like many hunter-gatherer societies, the Aeta promote social values, such as
cooperation through stories. Thus, they highly valued skilled storytellers.

Dry season for many Aeta communities means intense work. They not
only hunt and fish more, the start of the dry season also means swiddening
the land for future harvest. While the clearing of the land is done by both
men and women, Aeta women tend to do most of the harvesting. During this
period, they also do business transactions with non-Aeta communities living
around the vicinity they temporary settled in either to sell the food they
gathered, or to work as temporary farmers of field laborers. Aeta women
play more active roles in business transactions with non-Aeta communities,
mostly as traders and agricultural workers for lowland farmers. While dry
season typically means bountiful food for the Aetas, rainy season (which
often falls in the Philippines between September and December) often
provides the opposite experience considering the difficulties of traversing
flooded and wet forests for hunting and gathering.

Aeta communities use different tools in their hunting and gathering

activities. Traditional tools include traps, knives, and bow and arrow with
different types of arrow points for specialized purposes. Most Aetas are
trained for hunting and gathering at age 15 including Aeta women. While
men and some women typically use the standard bow and arrow, most Aeta
women prefer knives and often hunt with their dogs and in groups to
increase efficiency and for social reasons. Fishing and food gathering are
also done by both males and females. In terms of gender, Aeta communities
are more egalitarian in structure and practice.

Traditional Political Organization

While the father is normally the figurehead of the family, Aeta

communities or bands traditionally had an anarchic political structure
wherein they don’t have appointed chiefs to exercise authority over them.
Individual Aeta is on equal grounds with the other and their main course of
social interaction is through their tradition. It is also the tradition and not
constitutional laws, that maintain the equality among them and guide their
way of life. They do have groups of elders in their community called pisen
who they tend to go when it comes to arbitrating decisions. However, the
decisions made by the elders only remain in advisory capacity and no one
could force any individual to follow those decisions. This guiding principle
and conflict resolution is through a sustained deliberation.

Over time, this egalitarian political structure was disturbed due to

recurring contacts with the lowland Filipinos wherein the local officials and
individuals they interact forced Aeta communities to create government
structure resembling those in the lowlands.

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At times, Aeta communities do organize themselves in government-like

system with a Capitan (Captain), Conseyal (Council) and Policia (Police). But
mostly, they resist such imposed organization in particular, they refuse to
appoint a chief (or a president) that will govern although they do have one
elder that takes the responsibility of leadership. This informal kind of
government can also be found in their judicial process. When someone in
their community did something wrong, they would deliberate about it but
more importantly, they don’t talk about what kind of punishment they will
hand to the wrong-doer but instead the deliberation is about understanding
the motivation behind the action and prevent the consequence of the action
from developing into something worse. Young men and women are excluded
from the deliberation process. In this particular case, women are also largely
excluded from the deliberation process even when they are allowed to attend
the hearing or even when sometimes they can make their opinion about the
problem. For the most part, women are not given room within the decision
making process because the Aeta communities also follow strict gender role
were women are mostly expected to take care of the children and the
husband.

Indigenous Monotheistic Religion

There are different views on the dominant character of the Aeta

religion. Those who believe they are monotheistic argue various Aeta tribes
believe in a supreme being who rules over lesser spirits or deities, with the
Aeta of Mount Pinatubo worshipping “Apo Na”. The Aetas are also
animists. The Pinatubo Aeta believe in environmental spirits. They believe
that good and evil spirits inhabit the environment, such as the spirits of the
river, sea, sky, mountain, hill, valley and other places.

Indigenous Polytheistic Religion

There are four manifestations of the “great creator” who rules the
world. Tigbalog is the source of life and action. Lueve takes care of
production and growth; Amas moves people to pity, love, unity and peace of
heart, while Binangewan is responsible for change, sickness, and death.
• Gutugutumakkan, The Supreme Being and Great Creator who have
four manifestations, namely, Tigbalog, Lueve, Amas, and Binangewan
• Kedes, The god of the hunt
• Pawi, The god of the forest
• Sedsed, The god of the sea

Colonial Religion

In the mid-1960s, missionaries of the American-based Evangelical

Protestant mission group New Tribes Mission, in their effort to reach every
Philippine tribal group with the Christian Gospel, reached out to the
Agtas/Aetas. The mission agency provided education, including pastoral

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training for natives to reach members of their own tribe. Today a large
percentage of Agtas/Aetas of Zambales and Pampanga are Evangelicals.
Jehovah’s Witnesses also have members of the Aeta people.

MANGYAN GROUPS

The Mangyans were

once the only inhabitants of
Mindoro. Being coastal
dwellers at first, they have
moved inland and into the
mountains to avoid the influx
and influence of foreign
settlers.

Mangyan is the generic

name for the eight
indigenous group found on the island of Map showing location of
Mangyan Mindoro, southwest of the island groups on Mindoro
(Ethnographic of Luzon, each with its own tribal man of Mindoro)
Source: name, language and customs.
http://www.mangyan.org/book/exp ort/html/60
The ethnic groups of the island, from north to south, are Iraya,
Alangan, Tadyawan, Tawbuid (called Batangan by lowlanders on the
west of the Island), Buhid, and Hanunoo. An additional group on the
south coast is labelled Ratagnon. They appear to be intermarried
with lowlanders. The group known on the east of Mindoro as
Bangon may be a subgroup of Tawbuid as they speak the “western”
dialect of that language. They also have a kind of poetry which is
called the Ambahan.

Despite being grouped as one tribe, Mangyans differ in many

ways in comparison to the technological advance between the two
geographical divisions, the Southern tribes are more advanced as
seen in their use of weaving, pottery and system of writing. The
Northern tribes, on the other hand are simpler in their way of living.
Their language, as in the rest of the Philippines came from the
Austronesian language family. However, even if they are define as
one ethnic group, the tribes used different languages. They only
share 40% of their vocabulary. The tribes have also varied physical
and ethnogenetic appearances. Iraya has Veddoid features,
Tadyawan are mainly Mongoloid and the Hanunuo looks like a
Proto-Malayan.

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Another difference between tribes is the date of their arrival in

the Philippines. A theory suggests that the Southern tribes were
already present by 900AD while the Northern tribes are believed to
have arrived hundreds of years ahead of their Southern peers. The
Spanish authorities had documented their existence since their
arrival in the 16th century. However, historians suggest that the
Mangyans may have been the first Filipinos to trade with the
Chinese. Example of this relationship are seen in the burial caves as
porcelains and other potteries abound. However, not much
ethnographic research has been made except for the tribal and
linguistic differences that may lead to the indication that the tribes
can be treated separately.

Culture and Practices

Mangyans lived in peaceful societies as compared to the head

hunting tribes of North Luzon and brave defiant warrior tribes of the
South. Social scientists theorized that some societies become
peaceful because their system of norms and values reward peaceful
behaviour but disapprove aggressive and impulsive behaviors.
Peaceful societies are characterized by egalitarian social organization
without status competition between men and without asymmetric
relationship between men and women. Another theory posited that
populations adapt therefore, offering a more logical explanation why
Mangyans preferred to retreat in the hinterlands. They accept
peaceful submissiveness when they encounter lowland settlers,
missionaries, traders and government officials.

Mangyans are mainly subsistence agriculturists, planting a

variety of sweet potato, upland (dry cultivation) and taro. They also
trap small animals and wild pig. Many who live in close contact with
lowland Filipinos sell cash crops such as bananas and ginger.

Their languages are mutually unintelligible, though they share

some vocabulary and use Hanunuo script to writeTawbuid and Buhid
are closely related and are unusual among Philippine languages in
having a /f/ phoneme. Tawbuid is divided into eastern and western
dialects. Tawbuid may be the only Philippine language to have no
glottal phonemes having neither /h/ or /?/.

Their traditional religious world view is primarily animalistic;

around 10% have embraced Christianity both Roman Catholic and
Evangelical Protestantism (The New Testament have been published
in six of the Mangyan languages).

Indigenous Mangyan Religion

The Mangyan have a complex spiritual belief system which
include the following deities:
• Mahal na Makaako, The Supreme Being who gave life to all
human beings merely by gazing at them

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• Binayi, Owner of a garden where all spirits rest

• Binayo, is a sacred female spirit, caretaker of rice spirits or the
kalag paray. She is married to the spirit Bulungabon. The kalag
paray must be appeased to ensure a bountiful harvest. It is for
this reason that specific rituals are conducted in every phase of
rice cultivation. Some of those rituals include the panudlak, the
rite of the first planting, the rite of planting itself, and the rites of
harvesting which consist of the magbugkos or binding the rice
stalks, and the pamag-uhan, which follows the harvest.
• Bulungabon, The spirit aided by 12 fierce dogs. Erring souls
are chased by these dogs and eventually drowned in a cauldron
of boiling water. He is Binayo’s husband.

Artifacts

The indigenous Mangyans offer a myriad of culturally rich

artifacts that give insight into their culture and trade. The people
living in Southern Mindoro during the pre-Hispanic era are
exceptional in their weaving, pottery and their system of writing.
The clothing differs between genders. The male generally wears
loincloths as covering for their lower body whereas the female would
wear a skirt and a shirt for the top. The terms and materials would
differ from tribe to tribe but the exceptional designs would come
from the Hanunuo’s. Their textiles are dyed in indigo blue and has
an embroidery design called pakudos at the back and can also be
found in their woven bags.

Their system of writing called Surat Mangyan is a

prehispanic syllabic system and is believed to be of Indic origin. It is
still practiced today and is still being taught in different Mangyan
schools of Oriental Mindoro. The Hanunuo’s also practice their own
traditional poetry called the Ambahan, a rhythmic poetic
expression with a meter of seven syllables presented through
recitation and chanting or inscribed on bamboo.

Iraya
Mangyan

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(Photo of an Iraya Mangyan man and to his right a woman

holding a baby).

The Iraya Mangyans live in the municipalities of Puerto Galera,

San Teodoro and Baco in Oriental Mindoro but most are in
Occidental Mindoro particularly in Abra de Ilog, Paluan, Mamburao
and Santa Cruz. Estel (1952) described the Iraya as having curly or
deep wavy hair and dark skin but not as dark as that of the Negrito.

During ancient times, the Iraya traditional attire was made of dry
tree bark, pounded to make it flat
and soft. The women usually wore a blouse and a skirt and the men
wore “bahag” made of cloth. Today, however, the Iraya are dressed
just like the lowland people. Ready to wear clothes are easier to find
than their traditional costume (Uyan, 2002).

The Irayas are also skilled in nito-weaving. Handicrafts such as

jars, trays, plates and cups of different sizes and design are being
marketed to the lowlanders.

They subsist on rice, banana, sweet potato and other root crops.

Alangan Mangyan

(Photo of Alangan Mangyan woman in traditional attire)

The Alangan Mangyans live in the municipalities of Naujan,

Baco, San Teodoro and Victoria in Oriental Mindoro, and in the
municipality of Sablayan in Occidental Mindoro. The name
Alangan was derived from the
name of a river and mountain slopes in the upper Alangan Valley
(Leykamm, 1979). The women traditionally wear a skirt called
lingeb. This is made of long strips of woven nito (forest vines), and
is wound around the abdomen. This is worn together with the g-
string called abayen. The upper covering is called ulango, made
from the leaf of the wild buri palm. Sometimes a red kerchief called

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limbutong is worn over the ulango. The men wear g-strings with
fringes in front.

The Alangan Mangyans practice swidden farming, which

consists of eleven stages. Two of them are the firebreak-making
(agait) and the fallowing (agpagamas). A firebreak is made so
the fire will not go beyond the swidden site where the vegetation is
thoroughly dry and ready for burning. Two days after clearing,
cultivation of the swidden is normally ceased and the site is allowed
to revert back to forest (Quiaoit, 1997).

Betel nut chewing is also noted among the Alangans like all
other Mangyan tribes. Thus, they chew with great fervor from
morning to night, saying that they don’t feel hunger as long as they
chew betel nut (Leykamm, 1979). Nonetheless, betel chewing has a
social dimension. Exchange of betel chew ingredients signifies social
acceptance.

Tadyawan Mangyan

(Photo of a two Mangyan women sitting in front of a house, one holding a

child)

The Tadyawan Mangyans live in the municipalities of Naujan,

Victoria, Socorro, Pola, Gloria, Pinamalayan, and Bansod. In the
past, women wore for their upper covering a red cloth called
paypay, which is wound the breast. For their lower covering,
they wrapped around cloth called talapi. The men wore g-strings
called abay. For their accessories, women wore colourful bracelets

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and necklaces made of beads. Today the women do not wear their
traditional attire, although some men still wear the abay.
Like all other Mangyan tribes, the tadyawan depend on their
“kaingin” farm for subsistence. Their staple foods are upland rice,
banana, sweet potato and some fruit-bearing trees like rambutan,
citrus, and coffee in their kaingin.

Tau-buid Man

(Photo
of a Tau-buid man in a black shirt
leaning on a wooden staff)

A Tau-buids are known as pipe

smokers and even children began
smoking at a young age. Standard
dress for men and women is the loin
cloth. In some areas close to the
lowlands, women wrap a knee length
cloth around their bark bra-string and men wore cloth instead of
bark. Bark
cloth is worn by both men and women in the interior and is also used
for head bands, women’s breast covers and blankets. Cloth is made
by extracting, pounding and drying the inner bark of several trees
(Pennoyer, 1979).

The Tau-buid Mangyans live in the municipalities of Socorro,

Pinamalayan and Gloria, but mostly in Occidental Mindoro.

Bangon Mangyan

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(A Bangon man taking a rest after hauling goods from the mountains
into town)

The Bangon
Mangyans live along Bongabon river called
Binagaw and the surrounding mountains in the municipalities of
Bongabong, Bansud, and Gloria in Oriental
Mindoro.

The Bangon Mangyans have their own culture, language and

writing system, different to the other tribes in Oriental Mindoro, and
asserted they be considered the seventh major tribe not a sub-tribe of
the Tau-buid. In a March 28, 1996 meeting with Buhid Mangyans in
Ogom, Liguma, they decided to accept the word Bangon for their
tribe.

Buhid Mangyan

(Photo of an elderly Mangyan woman holding

a pot)

The Buhids are known as pot makers. Other Mangyan tribes,

like the Alangan and Hanunuo, used to buy their cooking pots from
the Buhids. The word Buhid literally means “mountain dwellers”
(Postina, 1967).

Buhid women wear woven black and white brassiers called

linagmon and a black and white skirt called abol. Unmarried
woman wear body ornaments such as braided into belt (lufas), blue
thread earrings, beaded headband (sangbaw), beaded bracelet
(uksong), and beaded long necklace (siwayang or ugot). The
men wear g-strings. To enhance body beauty, the men wear
ornaments like a long beaded necklace, tight choker (ugot) and
beaded bracelet (uksong). Both sexes use an accessory bag called
bay-ong for personal things like comb and knife (Litis, 1989).

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Together with the Hanunuo, the Buhids in some areas possess a

pre-syllabic writing system.

The Buhid Mangyans live in the municipalities of Roxas,

Bansud, Bongabong and some parts of Mansalay in Oriental Mindoro
and the municipalities of San Jose and Rizal in Occidental Mindoro.

Hanunuo Mangyan

(Photo of Hanunuo-Mangyan man and

woman and their young daughter all in
traditional attire.)

To the Hanunuo, clothing

(rutay) is oneof the most
important criteria in distinguishing
the
Mangyan from the nonMangyan
(damuong). A Hanunuo
Mangyan male wears a loin cloth
(ba-ag) and a shirt (balukas). A
female wears an indigo-dyed short
skirt (ramit) and a blouse
(lambung). Many of the
traditional style skirts and blouses
are embroidered in the back with a
design called pobdos based on the
cross shape.

The design is also found on their bags made of buri (palm leaf)
and nito (black fern) called bay-ong. Both sexes used to wear a
twilled rattan belt with pocket (hagkos) at their waist. Long hair is
the traditional style for a man. It is tied in one spot at the back of the
head with a cloth hair-band called panyo. Women also have long
hair often dressed with the headbands of beads. The Hanunuo
Mangyans of all ages and both sexes are very fond of wearing
necklaces and bracelets of beads (Miyamoto, 1985).

In the past they cultivated cotton trees and from these they
obtained raw materials which they wove in a crude hand loom called
harablon. The process of wearing are called habilan, which starts
with the gathering of cotton balls and piling them to dry in a flat
basket (bilao). Afterwards, the seeds are removed and the cotton
placed on a mat and beaten by two flat sticks to make it fine. Next
the cotton is placed inside a container made out of banana stalks
(binuyo) and woven.

Noted anthropogist Harold Cooklin made an extensive study on

the Hanunuo-Mangyan agricultural system in 1953. The Hanunuo

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Mangyans practice swidden farming. This type of farming is

different from the “kaingin” system practiced by non-Mangyans
which is often very destructive when it is done with no proper
safeguards to prevent the fire from spreading to the surrounding
vegetation. A fallow period is observed so that the swidden farm will
revert back to forest. According to Cooklin, the Mangyans managed
swidden farms skilfully. In 1995, almost half a century after
Cooklin’s research, a study on the Hanunuo Mangyan’s swidden
farming was conducted by Hayana Asaka. He concluded that the
Hanunuo Mangyans farming practices have prevented land
deterioration in spite of the fact that forest land degradation is now
evident in their territory due to various factors.

Together with their northern neighbour, the Buhids, the

Hanunuo possess a pre-Spanish writing system, considered to be of
Indic origin, with characters expressing the open syllables of the
language (Postma, 1981). Their syllabic writing system called Scrat
Mangyan is being taught in several Mangyan schools in Mansalay
and Bulalacao.

The Hanunuo Mangyans live in the municipalities of Mansalay,

Bulalacao and some parts of Bongabong at Oriental Mindoro and in
the municipality of San Jose at Occidental Mindoro.

Ratagnon

The Ratagnon live in the southernmost part of the municipality

of Magsaysay in Occidental Mindoro. Their language is similar to the
Visayan Cuyunon language spoken by the inhabitants of Cuyo Island
in Northern Palawan.

The Ratagnon women wear a wrap-around cotton cloth from

the waistline to the knees and some of the males still wear the
traditional g-string. The women’s breast covering is made of woven
nito (vine). They also wear accessories made of beads and copper
wire. The males wear a jacket with simple embroidery during gala
festivities and carry flint tinder and other paraphernalia for making
fire. Both sexes wear coils of red-dyed rattan at the waistline. Like
other Mangyan tribes, they also carry betel chew and its ingredients
in bamboo containers.

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Activities/Exercises

In the pictures of indigenous people presented below, identify their ethnic

groups and place of residence in the Philippine islands. Copy the matrix in a
separate sheet of paper and write your answer and send it back to our google
classroom. Don’t forget to write your name. Write the correct spelling of the
word (s) and wrong spelling will be marked incorrect (20 pts.)

1. 2.

3. 4.

5. 6.

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7. 8.

9. 10.

Name of Specific Tribe Tribal Groups

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

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Posttest

Test I. Fill in the blanks. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper and
send it back to our google classroom. Write the correct spelling of the
word (s) and wrong spelling will be marked incorrect (30 pts.)

1. The tribe inhabit the Southern Sierra Madre and

Caraballo Mountains and also called Bugkalot or Ibilao.
2. The Bontoc believed in the , spirits of the dead who
must be consulted before anything is done.
3. is the generic name for the eight indigenous group found on the
island of Mindoro.
4. In the past, the Tadyawan Mangyan women wore for their upper
covering a red cloth called .
5. In Bontoc, the tattooed chest of the head taker is called

6. or Cordillerans, is the collective name of several

Austronesian ethnic groups in the Philippines 7. The largest feast
of the Ibaloi is called .
8. societies means group of people or homogenous
identified by self-ascription by others
9. The other name for clothing in Hanunuo Mangyan is called
which is one of the criteria in distinguishing the
Mangyan from the non-Mangyan.
10. is the supreme deity of the Bontoc pre-Christian
belief systems.
11. The oratorical skills of the Ilongot is called .
12. The tattoed arms of Bontoc men and women is called .
13. dance of the Ibaloi is participated in by hundreds of male and
female.
14. The is known as the Summer Capital of the
Philippines.
15. The term “Ifugao” is derived from which means
“earth people”, “mortals” or “humans” as distinguished from
spirits and deities.
16. The is the Kankanaey’s courtship dance.
17. The term means “people who live inland.”
18. In Bontoc, the tattoo for both sexes is called .
19. , located on Luzon, is one of the Decade
Volcanoes.
20. The term indigenous is derived from the Latin word
which is based on the root gen-“to be born” with
an archaic form of the prefix “in”.
21. The Bontocs social structures used to be centered around village
wards called containing about 14 to 50 homes.

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22. The is the girls dormitory in Kankanaey tribe where

courtship between young men and women took place.
23. is the Ifugao’s highest prestige feasts for the elite.
24. The Ifugaos build their typical houses called , which
consists of a kitchen, bedroom and a worship room altogether.
25. In Kankanaey tribe, the men’s dormitory and civic center is
called .
26. is a feast in Ifugao for those immediately below the wealthiest.
27. In 2001, the of the Ifugao was chosen as one of
the 11 Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of
Humanity.
28. In a circular rhythmic dance of the members of the Bontoc tribe,
it is always accompanied by the .
29. The Ifugaos is best known for its famous
, which in modern times have
become one of the major tourist attractions of the Philippines.
30. In Ifugao, the means “hill”.

Test II. Complete the Table below. Copy the table in a separate sheet of paper
and write your answer and send it back to our google classroom.
Don’t forget to write your name. Write the correct spelling of the word
(s) and wrong spelling will be marked incorrect (35 pts.)

Specific Work/Function Name of

Deity/God

1. The supreme deity and the second son of

Kabunian

2. Father of Lumawig and the supreme deity

living above

3. deities of heaven

4. goddess of romance

5. ruler of the underworld with green eyebrows,

red eyes and tail

6. deity of the moon, worshipped with the sun

and stars

7. god of the hunt

8. spirits that make omen

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9. the god of warriors

10. the god of the forest

11. the paraplegic god of good fortune whose

presence made rice harvests and community
livestock bountiful

12. a group or class of deities usually living in

caves

13. great spirits of sacred places

14. divinities who dwell in graveyards or tombs

15. a brave woman who adventured into the

underworld and saw the causes of poor crops
and earthquakes

16. a large man in the west who perished due to

an accident while travelling with his son

17. spirit-creatures living in the forests or

wilderness called Gongot

18. the supreme being and great creator who have

four manifestations

19. the god of blacksmiths who cut off the heads

of the sons of Chacha because they were
destroying his work

20. the god of the fourth skyworld who bestowed

animals and plants on the people, controls
transplanting of rice

21. deity of the rain, worshipped for its life-giving

waters

22. deity of the stars

23. god of the Aeta who takes care of production

and growth

24. guardian of wild beasts

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25. the supreme being who gave life to all human

beings merely by gazing at them

26. the spirit aided by 12 fierce dogs

27. deity of the sun

28. owner of a garden where all spirits rest

29. god of the sun who’s son’s head was cut off by
Kabigat

30. spirits or anitos

31. causer of earthquakes dwells in the

underworld

32. deity of the rain

33. the god of the sea

34. a deity whose white hair is inhabited by

insects, ants, centipedes and all the vermins
that bother mankind

35. controls the dread typhoons

Test III. Discussion (20 pts). Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper
and send it back to our google classroom. Don’t forget to write your
name.

1. The indigenous peoples of the Philippines must be given proper

education, why? (10 pts)

2. Why there is a need to preserve the culture of the IP’s in the

Philippines? (10 pts)

3. Discuss the political organization of the Aetas? (10 pts)

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4. Mummification is one of the ancient traditions of the tribe Ibaloi.

Give your opinion on this tradition. Do you agree or not? If you
agree or disagree, support your answer (5 pts).

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References
Books

Handbook on Indigenous People of the Philippines. 2010. Revised

2014 Katutubo: Profiles of Philippine Cultural Communities. 2009.
Manila: National Commission on Culture and the Arts (various authors)
Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Republic Act No. 8371
or the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997

Internet Sources

A Guide to the Indigenous Tribes of the Philippines. htpss://the culture

trip.com/asia/Philippines/article/a-guide-to-the-indigenous-tribes-ofthe-
Philippines
bing.com/images
https://www.britannica.com/topic/ifugao-people
https://www.everyculture.com/East-Southeast.Asia/Bontok.html
https://en Wikipedia.org/wiki/igorot-people
Ibaloi/Ethnic Groups of the Philippines.
www.ethnicgroupsphilippines.com/people/ethnic-groups-in-
thephilippines/ibaloi
Ibaloi People and their Ancient Traditions.
www.ethnicgroupsofthephilippines.com/2017/12/30/the-ibaloi-
peopleand-their-ancient-traditions
IFUGAO/Facts and Details. facts and details.com/southeast-
asia/Philippines/sub5_6d/entry-3880html
Ifugao/people/Britannica
Ilongot/Facts and Details. factsanddetails.com/southeast-
asia/Philippine/sub5-6d/entry-3882, html
Ilongot Tribe of Headhunters/Philippine History.
http://www.phillife.co/ilongot-tribe-headhunters
Itneg Tribe-Maison Metisse. https//www.maison-metisse.com/itneg-tribe
Kankanaey, Southern/Ethnic Groups of the Philippines.
www.ethnicgroupsphilippines.com/. . . /kankanaey-southern
Kankanaey people-Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kankanaeypeople Mangyan Mission
mangyan.org/back/export/html/60 www.ncaa.gov.ph www.ncip.gov.ph
www.youtube.comOverseas Missionary Fellowship
Peoples of the Philippines: Ibaloi-National Commission,
https://ncca.gov.ph/ . . . /culture profile/glimpses-people-of-
thePhilippines/ibaloi
The Aeta People: Indigenous Tribe of the Philippines Original People.
Org/the-aeta-people-indigenous-tribe-of-the-Philippines
The Ifugao People/Ethnic Groups of the Philippines.
www.ethnicgroupsphilippines.com/2012/04/22/the-ifugao-people
www.ethnicgroupsphilippines.com/people/ethnic-groups-in the-
Philippines/bontoc mandirigma
org/?p=1312 Tinguian or

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

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Itneg: Tribes in
the Philippines.
https://www.tagaloglang.com/tinguian-itneg-tribe-abra-province

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

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Dear GEE II Students:

Congratulations for completing

this module! Keep this module neat

and intact. Kindly provide the needed

information .

Student’s Information

Name:

Program:

Year and Section:

Contact Number:

E-mail address:

Facebook Account:

Messenger Account:

Privacy Notice for Module

For this Module, we collect your name, program, year and section, contact number, email address,
facebook and messenger account when you submit your printed modules for purposes of
coordination and communication. All personal information collected will be stored in a secure
location and only authorized staff will have access to them.

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

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WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)

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Vision 2020
WPU: the leading knowledge center for sustainable
development of West Philippines and beyond.

Mission
WPU commits to develop quality human resource and green
technologies for a dynamic economy and sustainable
development through relevant instruction,
research and extension services.

Core Values (3CT)

Culture of Excellence
Commitment
Creativity
Teamwork

WPU-QSF-ACAD-82A Rev. 00 (09.15.20)