http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20090610-209669/Ibaloi-street-names-also-replaced
INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON
Inquirer Northern Luzon : Ibaloi street names also replaced
Inquirer Northern Luzon
Posted date: June 10, 2009
FROM SESSION ROAD and Leonard Wood Drive to Governor Pack and Harrison Roads, many of Baguio City’s streets have been named after American colonial officials who became the icons of a history still dominantly written and taught from the colonizers’ viewpoint.
But a few street names in Ibaloi reveal something else.
Before it was transformed into a hill station for colonial officials to escape the heat, humidity and dust of Manila, Baguio was home to the indigenous Ibaloi with their herds of cattle.
Many parts of what is now the business district used to ooze with springs where carabaos (water buffaloes) wallowed. Just a few meters from City Hall, a street was thus named Chanum (water).
Intersecting Chanum are Chugum (Wind) and Chuntug (Mountain) streets. These names may appear simple, but water, wind and mountain (or earth), besides fire, are considered among the essential elements of life.
So it was not surprising that Ibaloi and other Igorot peoples would build their homes near springs where they could have access to water.
Also near City Hall and behind Abanao (Wide) Street is a narrow street called Otek (Small). A street that goes uphill from Abanao is also called Kayang (High).
Other streets or roads and villages with Ibaloi names include Kisad (a condition when a priestess is possessed by a spirit during a religious rite), Bokawkan (wherever something has been removed), Lucban (orange), and Guisad (the same as Kisad and the name of a valley at the head of which the early Filipinos lived).
Some Ibaloi place names, however, have been replaced by colonial names and no longer evoke memories of the old topography and Ibaloi past, says Laurence Wilson, a former Presbyterian minister who moved to Baguio and became a mining prospector in the 1930s.
The market site used to be called Javjavan (native blacksmith shop); Cathedral Hill was called Kampaw (a social gathering place reminiscent of the Bontoc ato or Sagada’s dap-ay, a place where elders meet for dialogues and meetings); Teachers’ Camp used to be called Urengao (oily water); and below City Camp was Oliveg (whirlpool where rainwater runs out through a channel in the limestone).
Only a few Ibaloi street and place names have been retained. But Wilson’s study of these names, including those already replaced, shows that the Ibaloi knew and understood well every nook and cranny of their abode like the palm of their hands, something that got blurred as a result of colonization and urbanization. Maurice Malanes
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
What’s Baguio to Wood and Wood to Baguio
INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON
Inquirer Northern Luzon : What’s Baguio to Wood and Wood to Baguio
By Maurice Malanes
Inquirer Northern Luzon
Posted date: June 10, 2009
AUTHOR and former University of the Philippines Baguio Prof. Ricardo Torres Jr. has long been familiar with Leonard Wood Drive in Baguio City, but he discovered something that awakened his basic “researcher’s instincts.”
The road was named after the American colonial governor general who helped establish Baguio as a hill station where he and other colonial officials, sick soldiers, sojourning colonials, mine prospectors and bored wives of colonial masters in Manila would come to relax and recuperate.
But Torres, who authored books on development, had an interesting discovery about Wood, which, he said, could make the colonial official “a stuff of legends” and possibly “a perfect material for Regal Films.”
Wood captured Torres’ enthusiasm in 2007 when he visited Culion, Palawan.
Culion in Philippine history books is described as a “leper colony.” The place used to carry a stigma as the island was developed as a sanitarium to segregate and find the cure for people affected with the Hansen disease or ketong (leprosy).
On his last day in Culion, Torres was walking toward the old town and in the middle of the old plaza, he saw a big monument under the shade of old acacia trees. On the faded memorial plate of the monument reads: “Dr. Leonard Wood: Built by patients and friends of Dr. Wood.”
“I didn’t know Leonard Wood was a physician. I only knew him as a road,” Torres said in a paper he read during the Baguio Centennial Conference at UP Baguio in March.
Torres was among dozens of academics, researchers and historians who presented papers—all valuable fragments of Baguio’s history—during the conference, which was UP Baguio’s contribution to the city’s celebration of its centenary this year.
“I was intrigued why Leonard Wood deserved a road in an upland city and a monument in a far-flung, God-forsaken island town,” he said.
Awakened instincts
He typed “Leonard Wood biography” on Google and it provided 239,000 search results in 0.23 seconds. “Leonard Wood” alone had 1,160,000 results in 0.15 seconds.
Among other things, Torres discovered a Fort Leonard Wood for military personnel in Missouri and a Leonard Wood Institute that does military researches to help the US Army brace for the future.
Closer to home is a Leonard Wood Leprosy Research Center in Cebu. And it was Wood who advocated the search for cure and care of leprosy in Culion, ordering the allotment of a big chunk of the colonial budget for this.
Torres discovered that Culion was Wood’s “second Cuba.” Described as a physician with a passion, Wood helped eradicate yellow fever in Cuba.
But Torres’ search always points to Philippine history when nationalism and the clamor for independence from the United States was a raging movement.
Wood had strongly opposed this movement because the soldier and physician, Torres noted, believed that the Philippines was not ready for independence as the country and its people had a very poor and pathetic public sanitation.
Torres had another interesting note: Upon Wood’s advice, his wife got hold of the largest gold tiara that was unearthed in Butuan in southern Philippines in 1922.
Many colonial faces
History described Wood as harsh, heartless, ruthless, uncompromising and tactless. As governor general from 1921 to 1927, Wood was “impatient” with Filipinos agitating for independence. In 1923, he banned the display of photographs of Filipino heroes in public schools.
The famous remark of Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon, “I prefer a government run like hell by Filipinos to a government run like heaven by Americans,” was said to have been made in reference to Wood.
And Wood’s dispute with Quezon included Baguio, said Torres. While Wood was advertising Baguio as the year-round national capital, El Debate, a magazine that Quezon controlled, “expressed that it is wrong to [advertise] Baguio since it is already popular and needs no propaganda” from someone like Wood.
The famous American writer Mark Twain also characterized Wood as a “colonial savage.” Twain cited how Wood in 1906 ordered and later justified the massacre of 600 Moro men, women and children in Mindanao.
Despite Wood’s ruthlessness and heartlessness, Torres noted another side of the colonial ruler, which could be worth considering at least in terms of governance and exercising political will.
Wood did not only push to develop Camp John Hay when he was commanding general of the Philippine Department from 1906 to 1908. He strove to develop Baguio as “an educational center of forum” for indoctrinating Igorot peoples.
When the basic infrastructures for the city were being built, Wood persuaded Mayor Eusebius Julius Halsema and the city council to fund a nursery for pine and eucalyptus trees to reforest barren areas, expressing alarm over the massive cutting of trees in the city.
He was said to be so concerned about the health of the population that, during one visit here, he dismissed the city physician for failing to contain 15 cases of typhoid fever.
Wood has ambitions, too
“Wood was a man with many colonial faces; a dedicated physician, a ruthless soldier and a military administrator with ambitions to be the next president of America,” Torres said.
He was a dedicated part of America’s Manifest Destiny. On a crusade and on the road to be a legend, Wood imposed a cure for countries that were, in his opinion, unable to govern themselves, Torres said.
Interestingly, Baguio helped cool Wood’s head. Torres noted how Wood and his wife would drive to Baguio “to relax from the rigors of colonial administration.”
He would take long walks and plan for its development and “you can perhaps hear him—no cutting of trees or I’ll shoot you,” Torres said.
According to him, Wood embodies one of the “idols of history” and perhaps the history of Baguio and the Philippines gives an “overemphasis on great men.”
Wood’s monument in Culion, said Torres, is an “idealized representation” of the ruthless man that was friend to the lepers but a burden to public finance.
“From another angle, Wood was made part of history by the councilors of Baguio, those who defined power,” he said. “In Culion, however, it was powerless Hansenites (lepers) that enshrined him to be part of history.”
In Baguio, Wood deserves that road named after him only if roads are for legends, Torres said.
After independence and after Wood, Baguio, he said, is now being built for lowland migrants, tourists, visitors, excursionists, traders and the ukay-ukay (used clothes) crowd.
As Baguio celebrates its centenary, Torres has posed a challenge as the city continues to idolize Wood: “Has anyone asked what happened then to the home of the Ibaloi? Is this part of history now just a mere representation?”
Inquirer Northern Luzon : What’s Baguio to Wood and Wood to Baguio
By Maurice Malanes
Inquirer Northern Luzon
Posted date: June 10, 2009
AUTHOR and former University of the Philippines Baguio Prof. Ricardo Torres Jr. has long been familiar with Leonard Wood Drive in Baguio City, but he discovered something that awakened his basic “researcher’s instincts.”
The road was named after the American colonial governor general who helped establish Baguio as a hill station where he and other colonial officials, sick soldiers, sojourning colonials, mine prospectors and bored wives of colonial masters in Manila would come to relax and recuperate.
But Torres, who authored books on development, had an interesting discovery about Wood, which, he said, could make the colonial official “a stuff of legends” and possibly “a perfect material for Regal Films.”
Wood captured Torres’ enthusiasm in 2007 when he visited Culion, Palawan.
Culion in Philippine history books is described as a “leper colony.” The place used to carry a stigma as the island was developed as a sanitarium to segregate and find the cure for people affected with the Hansen disease or ketong (leprosy).
On his last day in Culion, Torres was walking toward the old town and in the middle of the old plaza, he saw a big monument under the shade of old acacia trees. On the faded memorial plate of the monument reads: “Dr. Leonard Wood: Built by patients and friends of Dr. Wood.”
“I didn’t know Leonard Wood was a physician. I only knew him as a road,” Torres said in a paper he read during the Baguio Centennial Conference at UP Baguio in March.
Torres was among dozens of academics, researchers and historians who presented papers—all valuable fragments of Baguio’s history—during the conference, which was UP Baguio’s contribution to the city’s celebration of its centenary this year.
“I was intrigued why Leonard Wood deserved a road in an upland city and a monument in a far-flung, God-forsaken island town,” he said.
Awakened instincts
He typed “Leonard Wood biography” on Google and it provided 239,000 search results in 0.23 seconds. “Leonard Wood” alone had 1,160,000 results in 0.15 seconds.
Among other things, Torres discovered a Fort Leonard Wood for military personnel in Missouri and a Leonard Wood Institute that does military researches to help the US Army brace for the future.
Closer to home is a Leonard Wood Leprosy Research Center in Cebu. And it was Wood who advocated the search for cure and care of leprosy in Culion, ordering the allotment of a big chunk of the colonial budget for this.
Torres discovered that Culion was Wood’s “second Cuba.” Described as a physician with a passion, Wood helped eradicate yellow fever in Cuba.
But Torres’ search always points to Philippine history when nationalism and the clamor for independence from the United States was a raging movement.
Wood had strongly opposed this movement because the soldier and physician, Torres noted, believed that the Philippines was not ready for independence as the country and its people had a very poor and pathetic public sanitation.
Torres had another interesting note: Upon Wood’s advice, his wife got hold of the largest gold tiara that was unearthed in Butuan in southern Philippines in 1922.
Many colonial faces
History described Wood as harsh, heartless, ruthless, uncompromising and tactless. As governor general from 1921 to 1927, Wood was “impatient” with Filipinos agitating for independence. In 1923, he banned the display of photographs of Filipino heroes in public schools.
The famous remark of Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon, “I prefer a government run like hell by Filipinos to a government run like heaven by Americans,” was said to have been made in reference to Wood.
And Wood’s dispute with Quezon included Baguio, said Torres. While Wood was advertising Baguio as the year-round national capital, El Debate, a magazine that Quezon controlled, “expressed that it is wrong to [advertise] Baguio since it is already popular and needs no propaganda” from someone like Wood.
The famous American writer Mark Twain also characterized Wood as a “colonial savage.” Twain cited how Wood in 1906 ordered and later justified the massacre of 600 Moro men, women and children in Mindanao.
Despite Wood’s ruthlessness and heartlessness, Torres noted another side of the colonial ruler, which could be worth considering at least in terms of governance and exercising political will.
Wood did not only push to develop Camp John Hay when he was commanding general of the Philippine Department from 1906 to 1908. He strove to develop Baguio as “an educational center of forum” for indoctrinating Igorot peoples.
When the basic infrastructures for the city were being built, Wood persuaded Mayor Eusebius Julius Halsema and the city council to fund a nursery for pine and eucalyptus trees to reforest barren areas, expressing alarm over the massive cutting of trees in the city.
He was said to be so concerned about the health of the population that, during one visit here, he dismissed the city physician for failing to contain 15 cases of typhoid fever.
Wood has ambitions, too
“Wood was a man with many colonial faces; a dedicated physician, a ruthless soldier and a military administrator with ambitions to be the next president of America,” Torres said.
He was a dedicated part of America’s Manifest Destiny. On a crusade and on the road to be a legend, Wood imposed a cure for countries that were, in his opinion, unable to govern themselves, Torres said.
Interestingly, Baguio helped cool Wood’s head. Torres noted how Wood and his wife would drive to Baguio “to relax from the rigors of colonial administration.”
He would take long walks and plan for its development and “you can perhaps hear him—no cutting of trees or I’ll shoot you,” Torres said.
According to him, Wood embodies one of the “idols of history” and perhaps the history of Baguio and the Philippines gives an “overemphasis on great men.”
Wood’s monument in Culion, said Torres, is an “idealized representation” of the ruthless man that was friend to the lepers but a burden to public finance.
“From another angle, Wood was made part of history by the councilors of Baguio, those who defined power,” he said. “In Culion, however, it was powerless Hansenites (lepers) that enshrined him to be part of history.”
In Baguio, Wood deserves that road named after him only if roads are for legends, Torres said.
After independence and after Wood, Baguio, he said, is now being built for lowland migrants, tourists, visitors, excursionists, traders and the ukay-ukay (used clothes) crowd.
As Baguio celebrates its centenary, Torres has posed a challenge as the city continues to idolize Wood: “Has anyone asked what happened then to the home of the Ibaloi? Is this part of history now just a mere representation?”
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Thinking of the Filipino palate amid Mad Cow disease scare
(Reprinted from archive)
Thinking of the Filipino palate amid Mad Cow disease scare
By Maurice Malanes
Northern Luzon Inquirer--Thursday 29 March 2001
Time was when the traditional Filipino diet depended on where one lived.
Those who lived along the coastlines would rely mainly on fish and other seafood for their protein sources. The Igorot folk of old would get their protein mainly from wide varieties of upland beans and grains, and occasionally from meat when they would hold their traditional thanksgiving feasts called ca�ao or pedit.
Until now, most Igorot folk, particularly those in the hinterlands, still rely mainly on plant proteins and freshwater fish.
So traditionally the Filipino diet has been plant-centered. But thanks to the proponents of the steak and burger religion, the Filipino's healthier vegetable-fish-oriented taste buds shifted toward something meaty as steakhouses and burger chains continued to mushroom in urban areas from Tuguegarao City in Luzon to Davao City in Mindanao.
And proof that these establishments are cashing in on the Filipino's changing taste buds is that they now belong to the country's top 1,000 corporations.
With the Mad Cow and foot-and-mouth diseases now threatening cattle and livestock in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe, which export a substantial amount of their livestock products to the Philippines, Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor has advised Filipinos to patronize locally raised cattle and livestock.
Problem is how can Filipino consumers be assured that the processed meats they buy from the groceries, such as sausages, hotdogs and hams, or the burgers they eat in fastfood chains are not tainted?
Advice
One good advice comes from Dr. Micaela Defiesta, Cordillera director of the National Nutritional Council.
"If it's not possible to eat beef and pork, we can go for fish," she said.
Fish, the traditional protein source in this archipelago, "unfortunately is not given priority," she said. "More and more Filipinos now go for burgers and steaks."
With the Mad Cow and foot-and-mouth diseases, Defiesta agrees with the suggestion that it is time for Filipinos to re-educate and re-orient their palates.
"If our forebears had simple but healthier taste buds, why can't we?" she asked. "My advice is for parents to put more fish in the diet of their children."
Fish, she said, has the same quality of protein as meat and has healthier polyunsaturated fats, which the body can easily absorb.
Other Filipinos, she said, can go for grains and legumes, and legume derivatives, such as tofu or soybean curd.
Defiesta said she saw the Mad Cow and foot-and-mouth diseases as an opportunity for concerned officials to look for, if not innovate, appropriate technologies and food security programs for various regions in the country.
Concerned government agencies and local government units, she suggested, could look at the prospects of further popularizing rice-and-fish culture which can help ensure food self-sufficiency in the localities, particularly in a landlocked region such as the Cordillera.
She also suggested the protection of the Cordillera's river systems that are rich in exotic fish species.
The Cordillera has seven major river systems and several tributaries, which have helped provide the protein sources of villagers since time immemorial. The rivers teem with eels, lobsters and various fish.
Mining operations and big dams, however, have threatened some of the river systems.
Still recovering from the pollution of a copper mine in the 1970s, for example, is the Amburayan River, the source of protein for villagers from Kapangan and Atok in Benguet and those in the uplands of La Union.
The Agno River has also lost its exotic fish species because of mining operations in Itogon town and after the Binga and Ambuklao dams were built in the 1950s and 1960s.
Mining operations in Mankayan town also continue to threaten the Abra River.
If only to secure and ensure the health and nutrition of rural folk, Cordillera's river systems must also be secured and protected, Defiesta said.
Thinking of the Filipino palate amid Mad Cow disease scare
By Maurice Malanes
Northern Luzon Inquirer--Thursday 29 March 2001
Time was when the traditional Filipino diet depended on where one lived.
Those who lived along the coastlines would rely mainly on fish and other seafood for their protein sources. The Igorot folk of old would get their protein mainly from wide varieties of upland beans and grains, and occasionally from meat when they would hold their traditional thanksgiving feasts called ca�ao or pedit.
Until now, most Igorot folk, particularly those in the hinterlands, still rely mainly on plant proteins and freshwater fish.
So traditionally the Filipino diet has been plant-centered. But thanks to the proponents of the steak and burger religion, the Filipino's healthier vegetable-fish-oriented taste buds shifted toward something meaty as steakhouses and burger chains continued to mushroom in urban areas from Tuguegarao City in Luzon to Davao City in Mindanao.
And proof that these establishments are cashing in on the Filipino's changing taste buds is that they now belong to the country's top 1,000 corporations.
With the Mad Cow and foot-and-mouth diseases now threatening cattle and livestock in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe, which export a substantial amount of their livestock products to the Philippines, Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor has advised Filipinos to patronize locally raised cattle and livestock.
Problem is how can Filipino consumers be assured that the processed meats they buy from the groceries, such as sausages, hotdogs and hams, or the burgers they eat in fastfood chains are not tainted?
Advice
One good advice comes from Dr. Micaela Defiesta, Cordillera director of the National Nutritional Council.
"If it's not possible to eat beef and pork, we can go for fish," she said.
Fish, the traditional protein source in this archipelago, "unfortunately is not given priority," she said. "More and more Filipinos now go for burgers and steaks."
With the Mad Cow and foot-and-mouth diseases, Defiesta agrees with the suggestion that it is time for Filipinos to re-educate and re-orient their palates.
"If our forebears had simple but healthier taste buds, why can't we?" she asked. "My advice is for parents to put more fish in the diet of their children."
Fish, she said, has the same quality of protein as meat and has healthier polyunsaturated fats, which the body can easily absorb.
Other Filipinos, she said, can go for grains and legumes, and legume derivatives, such as tofu or soybean curd.
Defiesta said she saw the Mad Cow and foot-and-mouth diseases as an opportunity for concerned officials to look for, if not innovate, appropriate technologies and food security programs for various regions in the country.
Concerned government agencies and local government units, she suggested, could look at the prospects of further popularizing rice-and-fish culture which can help ensure food self-sufficiency in the localities, particularly in a landlocked region such as the Cordillera.
She also suggested the protection of the Cordillera's river systems that are rich in exotic fish species.
The Cordillera has seven major river systems and several tributaries, which have helped provide the protein sources of villagers since time immemorial. The rivers teem with eels, lobsters and various fish.
Mining operations and big dams, however, have threatened some of the river systems.
Still recovering from the pollution of a copper mine in the 1970s, for example, is the Amburayan River, the source of protein for villagers from Kapangan and Atok in Benguet and those in the uplands of La Union.
The Agno River has also lost its exotic fish species because of mining operations in Itogon town and after the Binga and Ambuklao dams were built in the 1950s and 1960s.
Mining operations in Mankayan town also continue to threaten the Abra River.
If only to secure and ensure the health and nutrition of rural folk, Cordillera's river systems must also be secured and protected, Defiesta said.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Donors help keep school for blind afloat
Donors help keep school for blind afloat
By Maurice Malanes
Inquirer Northern Luzon
Posted date: June 02, 2009
TWO years ago, a US Navy retiree was looking for the Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, a house for persons with physical disabilities, in Baguio City so he could offer his help, but the driver of the cab he took brought him instead to the school of the Northern Luzon Association of the Blind (NLAB).
The man did not turn his back, however. After assessing the needs of the blind children, the retiree, who preferred not to be named, volunteered to supply the school with four sacks of rice monthly and to provide dinner every Monday for the 39 children under its care.
He has been doing this since and has pledged to continue helping when the school year opens this month.
For Dona Rosario, NLAB president and executive director, the taxi driver’s mistake was serendipity. “Who knows the retiree was led by the Holy Spirit?” she says.
Quiet benefactors
An Indian couple has been doing the same thing, providing snacks or lunch once a week for the children.
This breed of quiet benefactors has kept afloat northern Luzon’s only school for the blind, especially at a time when its overseas donors had reduced their funding, says Rosario.
The school offers free elementary education to visually impaired children in northern and central Luzon and continues to encourage parents to enroll their blind children there.
Graduates cross into regular high schools and later pursue university or college education, or technical or vocational courses, such as health massage.
Economic crisis
The NLAB’s future, Rosario says, is at stake because its donors are also affected by the global economic crisis. The school is supported by the Christoffel Blinden Mission (CBM), a church-based German donor; Heinz Woelke Foundation; the Diocese of Baguio-Benguet; and other local civic, educational and religious groups and individuals.
Last year, the CBM provided nearly half of the needs of the pupils. This school year, it pledged only 33 percent, saying the current economic crunch affected its supporters among the low-income European parishioners, says Rosario.
The NLAB spends P6,500 for each child monthly or P253,500 for the 39 pupils enrolled last school year. With the reduced funding, it has to initiate fund drives to sustain its mission.
Rosario is hoping that more people will follow the examples set by the Navy retiree and the Indian couple. “Many people in both government and the private sector have yet to appreciate that if these visually impaired are educated they can become productive [members of society],” she says.
She cites blind couple Rolando and Martha Bitaga, who teach academic subjects, including music, at the NLAB school. Both are graduates of the school.
Other graduates have established their own massage clinics, helping reduce the number of beggars in the city, says Rosario.
The NLAB faces another difficulty this school year. Its lease on the lot along the Marcos Highway, where its two-story school has stood since 1985, will expire this month, forcing the school to relocate to a smaller house on Bokawkan Road.
Repair work of the practically dilapidated house is not Rosario’s only concern. She also has to face complaints of neighbors who claim that the front fence mended by the NLAB workers was illegal because it was not covered by a building permit.
The irony of it, says Rosario, is that the complainants are encroaching on parts of the NLAB property.
Rosario did her homework. Citing a historical document showing the original fence, she explained to city authorities that the NLAB was just involved in restoration work.
At times, Rosario feels like giving up. A former nun who refused to get paid for her services, she says her difficulties and trials sometimes stress her out, giving her hypertension.
“I cannot just abandon these children,” she says. “They are my inspiration.”
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