If you wish to demolish stereotypes, you should not just be too eager to demolish false or unfair ascriptions; you must also have the balls to accept the truth, even if it puts you, your family, your clan, your community, or your nation in a bad light.
This is not just about the peeing Igorot statue erected along the Igorot Stairs of Barrio Fiesta in Baguio City. But since it is the issue at hand, let’s talk about it.
Do some Igorot men, like some other Filipino men (and some men regardless of ethnicity or nationality or citizenship) urinate on walls? Yes. (Partial list of areas where men urinate outside the toilet: India, Uganda, Philippines, and everywhere else)
Is it bad to urinate against the wall where you can read right before you a notice that says “bawal umihi dito?” Let’s say your answer is yes for now, although we can argue about that later.
A person who happens to be an Igorot does not have to be a saint, hero, the most intelligent, handsome, beautiful, talented, or successful to be recognized as an Igorot. Lineage is the only requisite.
I am not a sculptor, but if say I get lucky and get to finish a book that partly details bad things that Igorot individuals do, would you kill me?
Get a grip of yourself. Take off your rose-colored glasses. You don’t like anyone pissing you off by pissing on walls? Teach them (everyone of them, not just Igorots or Filipinos) not to. How do you teach them? Put up statues just like this everywhere:
Pwede: Uh, OK, mali pala. Di na uulit.
Pwede rin: Anong mali doon?
If you want to do something more complicated, you can suggest Barrio Fiesta to
- modify the statue so that the peeing man gets to wear pants instead of a g-string.
- modify the other statue so that the security guard is the one wearing a g-string.
- commission a sculptor to do a new set of sculptures elsewhere in Baguio where you have Igorots participating in the Death March, or some other event where Igorot individuals eventually die and become unsung heroes. To jumpstart the project let BIBAK everywhere and AYIP solicit from other sponsors to ensure that the project pushes through.
- do all of the above. Or just leave the statue alone. It does the job better than you could.
Read also: Ban this, ban that, remove this remove that
A friend from the media thinks the statue in Barrio Fiesta was intended for humor. I am willing to grant that. Unfortunately, the humor has an ethnic slur.
Some people -men, in particular (Hey, no sublimed discriminatory or sexist message)- do urinate against walls including those on which “No peeing” signs are installed. They are not necessarily Igorots.
Using an Igorot man to represent the “urinating man” cannot be divorced from how we as an ethnic group have been regarded by the majority culture. We have, for decades, if not centuries, been victims of ethnic prejudice. “Dogyocity” (being “dogyot” or dirty) has always been an oversimplified but strongly held idea (stereotype, in short) associated with Igorots. In St. Louis University where I teach, students from the lowlands are candid enough to admit that they always thought of Igorots as dirty people who rarely bathe and who spit and urinate with wild abandon anywhere! I would ask them, “What made you think so?” The answer: “Iyon po ang alam sa baba.” In this day and age, we Igorots are still on the defensive.
Aware of the prejudice suffered by our people, I see where the idea that gave birth to the statue emanated from. It did come from a sense of humor. Alas, it is one that is prejudiced. The joke is not funny.
Why I never noticed the statue before beats me. I thank Bill Bilig for bringing this matter to our attention.
Barrio Fiesta can retain the statue. However, the urinating man must be “re-done” so it will look generic.
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