INDIGENOUS knowledge is a result of indigenous peoples’ interrelationship with their territories and resources and a product of thousands of years of collective innovation adapted to the local culture and environment. For a long time, it was ignored and considered insignificant, if not barbaric and immoral.
This was true during the Spanish colonization of our country when rituals were labelled as devil worship. The American colonizers, on the other hand, used some of the indigenous knowledge especially of the Igorots to make their conquests effective.
At present, the levels of persistence and disintegration of indigenous culture and practices are based on how indigenous communities live in sync with the land, the unseen and economic realities through generations.
This brings us to Sen. Imee Marcos’ absurd plan to call on some Igorots to bless her office space formerly occupied by Antonio Trillanes. Her statement shows her gross misunderstanding of a cleansing ritual which is one of the building blocks of the Igorot way of life.
As said above, indigenous knowledge is rooted upon the control of indigenous groups over their land and territories. It is outrageous how Senator Marcos dares to make a mockery of the Igorot ritual to ensure her success in an institution that contributed very little to effect change in the lives of indigenous communities in the Philippines
Rituals are deemed effective if the territorial integrity of an indigenous group is still intact. We must remember Imee Marcos’ father’s rule in the country which hugely threatened the Igorot peoples’ territorial integrity.
Then President Ferdinand Marcos was the one who proposed the World Bank-funded Chico dam in Kalinga. A crony was responsible in denuding significant parts of forests in Abra. It was at the height of the anti-Chico Dam struggle when Macliing Dulag, a well-known defender of ancestral land was killed by a troop of soldiers. Many Igorot activists were imprisoned and tortured because they advocated defense of land and life.
Imee Marcos does not deserve a ritual and any ritual that will be done will be ineffective and won’t matter.
Rituals for outsiders were done but it is not done simply because of a whim of a person in power. It is decided upon by elders and community leaders, if not the whole community. The undertaking, in which rituals may be a part of, must have significant participation of and will have significant impact to the community.
Indigenous knowledge must be recognized, respected and must be used for genuine development of communities. These are what every politician and public official must know and respect. – JILL CARIÑO, executive director, Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples Rights (TFIP), Road 1, Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City, <tfip@philtfip.org> <www.philtfip.org> Facebook <@taskforceindigenouspeoplesrights>
