History of the Ilongot Tribe in the Philippines

Spanish colonization barely penetrated the Ilongot domain. Instead some natives were lured to the
lowland missions. These converts, like the Ilongot of Baler, were exempted from tribute. Protected by
mountains and forests, most Ilongot were able to repel foreign intrusions. In 1591 and 1592, a number
of Spaniards were killed by the Bugkalot in the expeditions led by Don Luis Perez Dasmariñas. Hence,
Spanish policy on the Ilongot became belligerent; nonetheless, all their subsequent punitive expeditions
failed. At times different ethnolinguistic groups united against the common foreign enemy. The Isinay
town of Burubur in southern Nueva Vizcaya was liberated by the combined Isinay-Gaddang-Ilongot
forces soon after it was occupied by the Spaniards in the early 1700s. The same cannot be said about the
Gaddang and Isinay who were residing in the plains of Magat River Valley. Eventually, the Gaddang of
Bayombong and the Isinay of Buhay, the present-day Aritao, capitulated to the Spaniards, submitted to
conversion, and were used as soldiers or transporters of supplies in Spanish expeditions against the
ilongot.

Way of Life of the Ilongot People

Swidden agriculture is traditionally the Ilongot’s primary means of food production. Plants are cut down,
left to dry, then burned during the penguma (preparation of the kaingin) from January to March. Unlike
many groups engaging in swidden cultivation, the Ilongot do not cut down large trees. Instead, they
practiced tengder (pollarding), a process in which branches of large trees are cut off to let sunshine into
the newly created field. This is done from March to mid-April. The men transfer from tree to tree on
rattan cables suspended 80 to 100 feet from the ground and fastened securely between trees. While
“tearing down the dress” of the forest, they might sing and boast of their head taking experiences as
loud as they can.

Felled branches are sun-dried, then burned. The clearing of the field’s debris is done by the men, as
undergrowth must be uprooted and branches carried away. Planting is done by the women when the
rainy season begins. The Ilongot plant sugarcane, coconuts, rice, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, squash,
and other vegetables. They gather shellfish from the streams and roots, and palms, fruits, honey, and
beeswax from the forests. Food is prepared by boiling, roasting, or smoking, and preserved by smoking,
salting, and sunning, such as with the pindang (sun-dried meat).

The Ilongot today employ various methods of farming. Besides kaingin, also common are irrigated
farming, permanent dry farming, and backyard farming. Primary crops are page or pagey (upland rice),
bukam (aromatic rice variety), mait (corn), abitsuelas (kidney bean), balatung (mung bean), and kape
(coffee)—the last three produced mostly for sale and not for subsistence. Secondary crops include
gepang (ginger), gisantes (green peas), utong (beans), pitsay (pechay), mustasa (mustard), kamatis
(tomato), mani (peanut), samal (cassava), kadriw (sweet potato), and tabaku (tobacco).

CULTURAL AND WAY OF LIVING

The ilongots belong to social groups of expanding size and scope—from families, households, and local
clusters, to their largest social unit, the bertan. The bertan is a kinship system defined by the members’
descent from a common ancestor whose place of residence is recognized by members to be their
common origin, such as “downstream, in the lowlands, on an island, near a mountain”

Once married, the man lives with or near his wife’s parents, whom he is forbidden to call by their
personal names. When his wife’s parents grow old, they live with a younger married couple, customarily
their youngest daughter and her husband. A Ilongot male is at his prime between the ages of 35 and 44.
He starts to master his culture and immerses himself in activities like singing, crafting, instrument
playing, and orating. The Ilongots man of advanced years is addressed as apu (grandfather), except by
his children. However much he is venerated for his recollections and his position in the family, the aging
Ilongot is relegated to the margins of society.

In olden times, the mother-to-be delivered her child by herself in the forest. The next day she washed
both herself and the child, returned home, and resumed her chores. She nursed the child for a week,
after which she fed it by masticating the food and then spooning the mush into her child’s mouth. At
present a woman about to give birth is assisted by the enpapaanak (birth attendant) and the tezab (the
woman who presses on the mother’s abdomen to help move the baby out). After delivery, the
enpapaanak wipes the newborn’s head and, after the inabong (placenta) has been expelled, cuts the
umbilical cord. She uses the adomi plant to tie the stump of the cord attached to the infant’s navel and
washes the woman’s genitals with water boiled with gepang and bayabat (guava) leaves. The infant is
washed with water boiled with pakoy (red onion; Tagalog - lasona; sibuyas-na-pula) and kamoletlet
leaves so that its skin will not darken. The mother is given gepang tea to drink. She may bathe as soon as
she wishes, but her first bath is with water that has been boiled with inamo (Blumea camphor; Tagalog -
sambong; Latin - Blumea balsamifera) and pakoy leaves. She resumes her regular domestic and farm
chores after three days. If her infant is colicky, she feeds it a few drops of the leaf juice of apalya (bitter
melon; Tagalog - ampalaya) before breastfeeding it. The baby receives its first solid food on the day it
begins crawling.

The mother carries her child on her back while working. When the child is a little older, she may keep her
child on a leash from the house’s central post, thus giving both herself and her child freedom of
movement. At the onset of puberty, the boy undergoes laksyento (circumcision), which is done by the
begenget.

Ilongots marriages are generally monogamous and enduring. Divorce is brought about by crucial
financial problems, the commission of a crime, or broader divisions between groups. For instance,
relatively more divorces were recorded during the period of altering political alliances between 1952 and
1954, when the Rumyad-Butag feud weakened the ties between the Kakadugen and Benate bertan.
Divorce is arranged by the parents of the estranged couple. The couple’s children are divided: the
daughters with the father, the sons with the mother. If the woman commits the offense, she returns the
wedding presents to the man’s parents.

The stages of the male life cycle are characterized by the cultivation of certain skills: As a youth, the male
learns how to work, and as an adult, how to speak. From the beginning, the boy, with bow and arrow in
hand, is initiated into gender-specific activities like hunting and foraging. Upon reaching puberty, he
selects a name, usually derived from an object of nature, which he retains until he moves residence or
when an evil spirit causing illness and misfortune needs to be exorcised. Manhood is attained through
various ordeals, most importantly teeth filing, head taking, and marriage. Teeth are shortened for
increased strength and sanitation. The excruciating pain experienced during the ritual is remedied by the
application of a warmed guava twig or a batac stem. The art of kayaw (head taking) elevates a male
youth from the station of a novice to that of a full-fledged adult. The goal is not to collect heads but to
take at least one head, for the ritualistic “throwing away” of a body part to symbolize purgation or an
unburdening of life’s load, such as grief over the death of a relative, grievance from an insult, or
frustration over remaining a siap (novice hunter) when others of the same bertan have moved on to a
higher status.

RELIGION

The magnigput (priest) supervises religious education, advises the community on related matters, and
sanctifies feasts and social occasions from birth to death. His position is hereditary, being carried down
to the eldest son or nearest male relative. Among the Ilongots feasts are the burni, for births and
sickness; dumiti, for postharvest thanksgiving; langaya, for headhunting; aimet, for game hunting; and
baleleong, for the ritual of anointing young children. In the langaya and aimet, the aymuyu (ritual leader)
slaughters a chicken and examines its liver for signs on whether to proceed with the hunt. The ritual also
seeks guidance from the agimeng (forest spirit).

The baleleong is an extravagant affair hosted by affluent families. Wreaths of leaves, each with a dish for
every child, are hung on the beams. The priest carries the male child, who wears the wreath on his head.
After praying to Abel, the priest makes a cross on the boy’s forehead with pig’s blood. Both the boy’s
ears are pierced. Separate rituals are held secretly for boys and girls. Boiled spring water instead of blood
is used by an elderly woman to anoint the girls. The girls’s meal immediately after the ritual is restricted
to rice and fish. It is believed that an error in the execution of the ritual will shorten the child’s life.

RITUAL

Spanish chroniclers observed that the Ilongot believed in one supreme being and that they considered
Christians idolatrous for praying to gods manufactured from wood. However, over centuries of
acculturation, Ilongot religion has become syncretic, as evidenced by the names of their mytho-religious
characters. The traditional Ilongot believe that Kain and Abel are benevolent gods and creators of the
universe who live in heavenly bodies. Because they are invisible, they are believed to be moving when
keat (lightning) and kidu (thunder) occur. The stronger Abel created the lowlands; Kain, a headhunter,
created the mountains, the Ilongot people, and culture. Together with their emissaries Binangunan or
Kabuligian, both are worshipped during feasts. Food and wine are set on a small bamboo table covered
with red cloth. The priest shouts the invitation to them that they may be pleased to bless the people
with good health and harvest.

The spirit world is inhabited by good and bad anito (spirits). The ayeg oversee the larger scheme of
things, righteously giving rewards and punishments. Sickness is associated with the saiden (malevolent
spirit), also called agimongor agimang, and ceremonies involving the use of herbs are led by the
enpapagak as he asks the spirit to depart from the sick. These spirits reside in the gongot (forest),
particularly in trees, pinget (river), and eoma (farm). An illness that is believed to be caused by the
agimang is betong sepanon, manifested by the stricken person’s memory loss and hallucinations. A cure
is the steam from boiling bulakot leaves.

Headhunters believe that when a man is killed, he leaves behind his heart or life force that can either be
a beteng or an amet. The beteng generally afflicts the living, whereas the amet attaches itself to the
beheader and thereafter can no longer cause problems to the community. The achievement of the amet
is the spiritual aspect of head taking.

The palasekan (dwarfs) play a part in individual lives. Willful and whimsical, they must not be displeased
lest sickness befall the offender. One should always carry a light to avoid encroaching on these creatures
of the dark. However, they can be very helpful in bridging the known and the unknown, such as in
conveying messages from the dead and advising priests on the treatment of the sick. They are well-
informed about human affairs, enjoy worldly pleasures like drinking basi, and play favorites among
earthlings. The use of charms, amulets, and magic acknowledge the spirits. Balete trees, where they are
said to lie, stand undisturbed. Caves are likewise revered, for they house the agimong and betang, the
spirits of ancestors.

Ilongot spells and ritual prayers are classified into the sambal, aimet, and tugutug. Sambal are spells that
involve the use of herbs and plants to treat illnesses. These spells cite temporal images of “purification
and safety,” such as thorns that protect plants from scavengers, metals that are immune to scratches,
and trees that are protected from forest fire. The nawnaw is a very elaborate speech characterized by
“hyperbolic metaphors, redundant rhythms, and stereotyped lines”

ARTS AND CRAFTS

The Ilongots convene a pogong (oratorical discussion) from time to time to settle differences.
Traditionally, participating men persuade others by means of the amba-an, which is more elaborate,
witty, and creative than everyday speech. It is an allusive way of speaking characterized by “iambic
stresses, phonological elaboration, metaphor, repetition, and puns” that are features of poetry and song.
The pogong is still practiced today in the settling of land disputes, for instance, but the style is now nata-
upu, prosaic and straightforward.

Although many Ilongots dimolat (folktales) derive from practical jokes, some reveal fragments of Hindu
epics. These tales represent the Ilongots worldview and value system, such as the virtues of courage and
strength as manifested in physical exploits. They also suggest that to the Ilongots, cruelty is justifiable
but kindness is always a virtue.

The dimolat have no fixed classifications. There are origin myths, legends, animal tales, märchen, and
occupational tales. The dimolat can be told in two ways: briefly, during moments of respite from work or
whenever an expert storyteller is unavailable; or comprehensively, when time permits or during idle
evenings. A master storyteller, usually an old man or woman, chants in a generally monotonous tone.
Lively tunes are rare. The narration follows the measure of the tune; for this purpose, various literary
and rhetorical devices can be employed. For example, meaningless syllables are added or meaningful
ones deleted to fit the musical meter. The plot being secondary, the pleasure of listening to a dimolat
comes mainly from the storyteller’s manner of narration.

The origin myth “Na Nanggapuan Min Ilongot” (How We Became Ilongot) is a tale of Bugkalot ancestry.
The god Kain created a man and a woman. They married and lived in a hut in the mountains. There the
woman conceived and bore a son. Later she bore a daughter. When the two children grew, their parents
asked them to marry. This process continued until the mountains were populated. The descendants have
since pursued the economic activities of their forebears.

A folktale that affirms the high honor afforded head takers is that of a young archer named Pana, who
loved Anang, a beautiful daughter of the chief of a neighboring community. One day Pana went on a
head taking expedition. Upon chancing on a lone maiden, he killed her and cut off her head and fingers.
Then he threw her body into a river and removed the brains and hair from her head. These he presented
to Anang’s father as proof of his courage. The wedding followed, during which the head was used as a
wine bowl. Finally the village folk took turns dancing around the head in joyous celebration.

Legends are the Ilongots’s explanations for worldly phenomena. The tale “Nempangngon Ma Bantog
Duag Ma Lemot To” (Why the Lizard Has Two Tongues) recounts a contest between a lizard and a
crocodile who agree that whoever stays longer underwater would have the tongue of the other. The
competition lasts several days, but the lizard cheats by coming up for air. Unaware that he has been
cheated, the crocodile eventually surfaces and acknowledges defeat. So the lizard wins the crocodile’s
tongue.

CURRENT ISSUE

BALER, Aurora—Indigenous peoples of the Ilongot tribes living at the boundaries of Nueva Vizcaya,
Quirino and this province have asked President Rodrigo Duterte to resolve their decades-old problem
concerning alleged environmental violations committed by the American operator of the giant Casecnan
Multipurpose Irrigation and Power Project.

In a letter to the President, Bugkalot/Ilongot Confederation director Rocky Valderama Jr. sought Duterte’s
intervention on the supposed violations and injustices committed by the California Energy Casecnan
Water and Energy Company Inc. Officials of the company could not be reached for comment as of
presstime.

Valderama accused the firm of depriving them of their share in the revenue of the Casecnan power
plant, and violating their rights to their ancestral domain while raking in billions of pesos through their
operations.

The revenue share was one of the 20 demands raised by the IPs before the project could start
construction in 1995.

EDUCATION

The Bugkalot men received acclaim as a result of their experiences. Because they lacked external
experience on which to base knowledge and expression, Bugkalot women had inferior prestige.

Based on Michelle Rosaldo's study and findings of other stateless societies, anthropologists must
distinguish between prestige systems and actual power within a society. Just because a male has a high
level of prestige, he may not own much economic or political power compared to others that are less
prestigious within the society.