Alfredo Gayagay Lamen

• 5th Congress Representative, First District of the old Mountain Province (1961–1965)
• First Provincial Governor, appointed and inducted by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos (1967)
• 7th Congress Representative of the lone District of the present Mountain Province (1969–1972)

* On June 18, 1966, Republic Act 4695 divided Mt. Province into four distinct provinces, namely: Benguet, Mountain Province, Kalinga-Apayao and Ifugao.

Lam-en vs. Carlos P. Romulo

The only difference is that he wears his g-string around his neck while I wear mine below.

Lam-en vs. Labo

Next, bringing the crowd to a full crescendo was the voice of the former governor and former congressman from Mountain Province, Atty. Alfredo Lam-en. Well into his late sixties or early seventies, with a self-described John Wayne profile, Lam-en unabashedly sang out his greetings in Ilokano to protesters using a distinctively Cordilleran chant known as oggayam. Although the chant is often heard at village gatherings in Abra, Kalinga, and Mountain Province, few if any other Baguio attorneys would have been so unabashed in acknowledging their roots. “It is true that we are all Igorots here, even the nun who is the child of Jesus Christ,” chanted Lam-en, to a loud cheer of approval.

Calling attention to his own bloodshot eyes, allegedly caused by three sleepless nights after reading the mayor’s remarks, Lam-en used self-directed humor to evoke great laughter. At the same time, he warned protesters in a serious tone not to take the law into their own hands. Revealing the syncretic nature of religion in much of the Cordillera, the former governor stated that the powerful “non-Christian” deity, Kabunian, would deal appropriately with this matter. Lam-en, a cofounder in 1950 of the first Cordillera-wide youth organization that brought together students from all the highlander ethnolinguistic groups, had affectionately been introduced as “no other than our father from the Cordillera.” His closing words, “Mabuhay ang Kaigorotan” [Long live the Igorot], were loudly applauded, suggesting the degree to which the crowd appreciated their dual status as Igorot and Filipino. [source]

Carlos Pena Romulo (1899-1985)

• Philippine general, journalist and diplomat. He supported the Allies during WW II during Japanese invasion and occupation
• president of the United Nations General Assembly (1949-50)
• chairman of the UN Security Council; recipient of Pulitzer Prize in journalism (1942).

‘Di ako Igorot, parents ko lang.

– Manila born Igorot

child of an Igorot who resides at the St. Andrew’s Theological Seminary
(just behind St. Luke’s Medical Center)

Logic: I was born in Manila and grew up in Manila (Quezon City to be exact). Since igorot means from the mountains, and since I am a lowlander since birth, then only my parents are Igorot. I am not.

We will not lose (the elections) to those Igorots. They urinate anywhere . . . that is why we club them. . . . The Igorots are traitors. They are civil in front of you, but once you turn your back they stab you.

– Baguio ex-Mayor Ramon ‘Jun’ Labo, Jr.
as quoted in a Manila Chronicle column (September 4, 1988)

This, in part, is the reason why Mauricio Domogan kept on winning in the local elections. Backlash.

And why some don’t see the value of this artwork.

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.

Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer’s Northern Luzon Bureau got quotes from my naughty Igorot entry. As usual, the article doesn’t have a link back. The article was intended for print and when it was uploaded online, nobody was tasked to ensure that the article linked to its sources. Oh, well.

According to BIBAKNets, the statue is no longer on display. Sayang, it was a clever way of telling patrons “CR this way” jut like a smoker has a “no smoking” sign in his room, pa naman sana. Sarcasm is a brand of humor that finds it hard to fly. (Customer:Sa’n yung CR dito? Guard:Ser, dun sa may bawal umihi, pag nakita nyo po, liko kayo tapos diretso lang…)

And it reminded me of how the statue of Our Lady of EDSA was redone so that its strong Asian facial features became the usual meek Caucasian. Kasi yun ang gusto ng mga churchgoers. And the sculptor’s vision was destroyed.