IN MEMORIAM: Torchbearer of ‘Igorot nationalism’

IN MEMORIAM
Torchbearer of ‘Igorot nationalism’
By Maurice Malanes
Northern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 02:28:00 12/23/2008

Filed Under: Police, Crime, Regional authorities

BAGUIO CITY – Igorots of the Cordillera are not only mourning the death of the first television personality among them who was too young to die at the peak of his career. They are also grieving over the loss of the region’s envoy and torchbearer of what may be called “Igorot nationalism.”

Many Igorot and other supporters were shocked upon learning that Mark Angelo Cadaweng Cielo – Marky Cielo to his fans – died in his sleep at the family’s house in Antipolo City on Dec. 7. He was 20.

“My heart aches for a life so short … We Igorots know how long we had waited for a Marky Cielo – a young, handsome, humble, talented, good-hearted guy who never denied his Igorot roots,” laments a fan who signed her name only as Miss Buguias in an online feedback at GMA 7’s website on Dec. 11.

The television network GMA 7 sponsored the 2005-2006 reality talent show StarStruck where Cielo won as the “sole survivor.”

Cielo indeed was proud of his Igorot roots. Introducing himself in his website, markycielo.net, he said he grew up in Butuan in Mindanao then moved to Mt. Province in 2001.

“Of course, both places are in the Philippines,” he said as if to stress that any Filipino wherever he comes from could join show biz.

“My classmates convinced me to join StarStruck in 2006 and I won the Ultimate Male Survivor title. I won the first Sole Survivor title of the reality TV show and the first Igorot ever to join that contest,” he said.

During the later phase of the StarStruck contest, the finalists were asked who among them could be the sole survivor and one reportedly said Cielo could not qualify because he was an Igorot.

Many Igorot supporters said the statement smacked of bigotry and discrimination. They launched a counter-offensive through SMS (short messaging service or text message) and blog (web log) messages, which gathered support for Cielo’s bid to top the contest.

Apart from the overwhelming support, Cielo also showed his special talent, among them dancing, which charmed actress Lorna Tolentino, one of the judges.

Regional pride

The overwhelming protest against the ethnic slur on Cielo displayed the upland folk’s strong sense of regional pride or a kind of Igorot nationalism borne out of their history of resistance against Spanish conquest and other invaders.

In having resisted Hispanization, Igorots take pride not in having centuries-old churches in their midst, but in building historic monuments of their indigenous engineering skills such as the rice terraces not only in Ifugao but also in Mt. Province and other Cordillera provinces.

Being Igorot is therefore not a badge of shame, but of honor. The Igorots are a hardy people who resisted invaders and tamed tough terrain to help secure food for generations.

Another source of pride for many Igorots is their contribution in the last war.
Igorot soldiers who fought during World War II under the 66th Infantry of the United States Armed Forces in the Far East-North Luzon would relish telling stories about how they climbed Japanese tanks to drop grenades and would jump to safety before the tanks exploded.

After seeing the gallantry of the Igorot, Gen. Douglas MacArthur was remembered to have said, “Give me one dozen Igorot and we can win this war,” or something to that effect.

All these stories, most of them handed down orally, have become a source of regional pride for many Igorots, including those abroad.

Such pride, which Cielo carried to show business, makes his death a great loss to his people, who lost an “ambassador” in the glitzy world of television and the movies.

Shortly after Cielo won StarStruck in 2006, the independent research outfit ResearchMate Inc. based in La Trinidad, Benguet, surveyed 150 respondents in Mt. Province, asking them about their reasons for supporting him.

While 72 respondents supported Cielo because “he is from Mt. Province,” 85 respondents voted for the actor because “he is proud of his roots as an Igorot.”

Root factor

The root factor is thus largely significant: Igorot support for Cielo would have not been as overwhelming had he renounced his roots.

By being proud of his roots, Cielo also would have helped eventually shatter the colonial tendency in show biz to choose as stars mainly those who are Spanish or Caucasian mestizos or mestizas.

Mildred Cadaweng Cielo, the actor’s mother, said her son becoming the Igorot icon has become an accidental “mission.” With a report from Frank Cimatu