STATUS OF MIGRANT INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

STATUS OF MIGRANT INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

By: Rodrigo P. de Vera, Jr., Ed. D.

Bobonan National High School (BNHS)-Senior High School Subject Group Head

Migration is a social phenomenon that is affecting every society. This phenomenon happens everywhere and anywhere. People migrate from their birthplaces to other places, either from the provinces to the cities or vice versa. They have many reasons why they migrate to other places, but obviously, people migrate primarily for economic reasons.

Indigenous people are not exempted from this phenomenon. They migrate from their indigenous communities to other places. They are looking for better employment and business opportunities. In this case, many Igorots are already migrating to other places, particularly in the  lowlands. They either buy or rent lands for their farming and wood craft and carving activities.

In the Municipality of Pozorrubio, there is a  growing number of  Igorots living in different barangays. Igorots who are living in the interior barangays of this town are mostly from Benguet Province. They are known for their farming activities. However, Igorots who live along the national roads are mostly from Ifugao Province. They are known for their woodcraft/ woodcarving industry where their business shops are found  in Barangays Rosario, Alipangpang, Palacpalac, Bobonan, and Batakil.

As these Igorots have found their new home in the Municipality of Pozorrubio, they brought along with them their families. As a result of their long stay in this place, their children have suffered the consequences of such migration.

Thus, their children learn to live and study  together with the children of the lowlanders. Consequently, these indigenous children have become vulnerable to acculturation, leaving their parent’s cultural heritage in abeyance and worse, oblivion of their indigenous culture. The culture of the dominant group has been adopted and adapted in order to avoid any discrimination.

 In effect, these children experience an ethnic identity crisis as they are growing up in the midst of non-indigenous children and non-indigenous community.

In order to revitalize the cultural identity and cultural practices of indigenous students of Bobonan National High School, Pozorrubio, Pangasinan, an Indigenous People’s Center has been put up by the author together with his technical adviser, Mr. Reynaldo D. Salayog II, during the Brigada Eskwela 2017.

 This IP Center features the traditional clothes of the Cordilleran tribes-the bahag or G-string for men and the tapis for women, indigenous musical instruments like gong and solibao, headgears, spear, magazines and books on Cordilleran history and culture, wood carvings of Banaue, and many other items on display. This is open for public viewing, not just only for the indigenous people but more importantly to the lowlanders in order for them to understand the rich cultural practices of the indigenous people who are living in a non-indigenous community.