The fact remains that the Igorot is not Filipino and we are not related, and it hurts our feelings to see him pictured in American newspapers under such captions as ‘Typical Filipino Tribesman.’
– Carlos P. Romulo, (1943) Mother America. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co. p. 59.
Romulo was once General MacArthur’s aide–de–camp, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines and President of the University of the Philippines.
I made a term paper showing that my Igorot sample (chosen for the sake of convenience — those residing and studying in Metro Manila at that time) wished to eradicate the negative Igorot stereotype by passing on those stereotypes to the Aeta. This was what Romulo tried to do in his book, Mother America. He wasn’t wild, primitive and black; the Igorot was.
Check this out: The Igorot: Filipino or not?
Clarification: Romulo’s original intent was to disassociate himself from the stereotypical image of the Igorot which to the Whites was the same as their (mis)conception of the Filipino (post-Hispanic rule definition). That means Romulo wrote that the Igorot was not Filipino kasi nahihiya siya sa balat niya.
Romulo eventually brought up the Filipino originally meant Spaniards who were born in the Philippines and much later, indios who agreed or were forced to become subjects of the King but not citizens of Spain. So technically the Igorot were not Filipino because they never became subjects of the King of Spain. argument — which is true, by the way — as a way of saving face.
Perhaps, Romulo was right that the Igorots were not Filipinos.
The Filipinos (Actually, they were indios. It was only in the 1800s that they were called Filipinos. The original Filipinos were the Espanoles on Philippine soul. At least, this is what I learned from Renato Constantino.) surrendered their sovereignty to the Spaniards. Among them were Romulo’s ascendants. The Igorots never had to bow down to the white men. They valiantly sustained their struggle for self-determination and did not slacken one bit, while many of the non-Igorots were paying tribute (bandala) and rendering polo y servicios to the Españoles. Definitely, the Igorots were of a distinct mold. They were several cuts above the rest.
If the Filipinos were those poor, unfortunate beings who bowed down to the Españoles, then the Igorots were, by all means, no Filipinos.
Lest I be misunderstood, we acknowledge that there were several revolutionaries among them Filipinos. The most famous was Bonifacio. But the Igorots were collectively revolutionaries, their heroism collectivized. How about that?
romulo was the americans’ fair haired boy. he loved the job and its handsome rewards. one could say part of the job was to denigrate his “native” countrymen, especially those with a long history of resisting colonialism, in order to curry favor with his benefactors. he was a smart enough to come up with a clever retort. i heard a story that gayagay lam-en led a group of igorot protesters to the tarlac hacienda of romulo and they were civilly welcomed by romulo’s servants. romulo, according to the story, was not there.
Like I have written in my Yahoo!360 blog, It was a real missed opportunity that Mr Lam-en did not take the chance to declare that the whole of Kaigorotan(Cordillera) should be separated from the Philippines and have their own Estate or country which is called (I suggest) Republic of Kaigorotan….How I wish their will be another Carlos Rumulo and the next Gayagay Lam-en will have more common sense and say “Yes the people of Kaigorotan are not Filipinos, THEY ARE REAL IGOROT! And since they are not Filipinos they therefore have the right to declare their land as another estate and must be separated from the Estate of the philippines…
If only I have the power, I will take Igorot as my world Identity and not Filipino! Am just wondering why the People of this beautiful country don’t throw out in the garbage that filipino identity…..when will they realized that that is a mark of a SLAVE, the reason, maybe why they are still slaves to foreign countries….if they think they are independent…maybe, but i think only to choose which country will become his/her master and not only the Spaniards….Now, tell me which is more disgusting and more embarassing to admit- A filipino or an Igorot??????