Archive for the ‘Igorot’ Category

Defining ‘Igorot’ on Twitter

Monday, September 28th, 2009

I was following online commentaries about Kanye’s outburst during the Video Music Awards (VMA) when I came to a post about angry twits blaming his race for what he did. The Nigger bomb attacks gave me a thought: How about checking how twitterers use the word ‘Igorot’ in their twits?

The first thing I caught was Febbeh’s. Here are the others.

RT @donronx bring me an igorot
Ron Cruz
Manila, Philippines
Twitter account: @donronX

Doesn’t his request remind you of Candy Panglinan’s ‘Hindi po ako Igorot, tao po ako’ remark? Do lowland Filipino’s really equate ‘Igorot’ with ’statue/wood carving’ and put them on the same level as ube jam and other pasalubong? In college, I was asked by an org mate to bring him back an Igorot. Could he have really meant a wood carving? I have no idea.

RT annaojers igorot black

RT annaojers igorot black


Joanna Ordonez
18 years old
Kentucky, USA
Myspace Account: Anna OJ

Apparently, she was asking about the Negrito, but Nicole shows her misconception by twitting back:

RT @saucyfbaby igorot black
Nicole
21 years old
California, USA
Myspace Account: saucy|eff.|baby

What do you expect, she can’t even spell ‘indigenous’ correctly. (Am I a grammar/spelling Nazi?)

saucyfbaby igorot black myspace

Twitterer @Febbeh : stupid igorot

Thursday, September 17th, 2009
RT @Febbeh stupid igorot

RT @Febbeh stupid igorot

Twitterer @Febbeh calls follower @younodakine ’stupid igorot’ after he suggested she move to the Philippines and do her farming there instead of doing it in Farmville.

She seems like a whitewashed Pinoy na nahihiya sa kanyang sariling balat.

Based on what she wrote in her Tumblr/Twitter accounts, she is 19 and resides in Southside, Las Vegas, currently studying at NSC, majoring in hospitality and minoring in EM. She follows Josh Groban, Pink and Elen DeGeneres, among others.

Update:

She makes another tweet (see screen shot below). Judging by the way she writes, I guess she thinks her language is harmless and perhaps even thinks it’s cool/fun to say all these things.

Febbeh says Igorot fuck face

Twitter account: @Febbeh (February)
Tumblr account: Frochii

Brig. Gen. Pedro Baban, Igorot

Monday, February 4th, 2008

Read Vincent Cabreza’s article on the first Igorot general.

Brig. Gen. Pedro Baban
Philippine Military Academy Class of 1940
La Trinidad Agricultural High School 1935 (now Benguet State University)

Gwen Garci, Igorot

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Gwen Garci is an Igorot. Her mom is from Besao, Mountain Province.

Gwen Garci

Read about Gwen Garci’s childhood background and past love affairs here.

Zennia Aguilan

Friday, January 25th, 2008

Zennia Aguilan, 31, from Sagada, Mountain Province, Philippines was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.

Etag and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Tuesday, April 17th, 2007

Will eating too much etag (smoked pork) cause lung damage? Well’ I’m not sure about that, but

A study has found that the preservatives in bacon, ham and salami could harm the lungs in the same way as emphysema.

Lead researcher Dr Rui Jiang, of Columbia University in New York, said: “Cured meats are high in nitrites, which are added to meat products as a preservative, an anti-microbial agent and a colour fixative. Nitrites may cause damage to the lungs.”

The chemicals are thought to generate reactive molecules that produce structural damage to lung tissue.

The researchers found that high consumers of cured meats were likely to be male, of lower socio-economic status, to smoke and to have a low intakes of fruit, vegetables and vitamins.

Dr Jiang said further studies of the link between dietary nitrite and COPD were needed.

So do alnus (Japanese alder) twigs and leaves have high nitrate content? In Sagada, they usually smoke the pork that becomes etag usually by letting the sweet smell of fresh alnus twigs and leaves permeate the meat and fat the whole day.

The last thing I read was that nitrates or whatever preservatives in hotdogs cause headaches so if you are migraine prone like me, do something with your breakfast choices.

Bernadette Dominguez Sembrano, Igorot

Sunday, April 1st, 2007

Name: Bernadette Dominguez Sembrano
Birthdate: February 18, 1976

Worked with GMA-7 then moved to ABS-CBN.

Her mom worked in Manila as a PNB employee (check here) so most likely city girl etong si Bernadette.

Bernadette Dominguez Sembrano, Igorot Bernadette Dominguez Sembrano, Igorot 02

Bernadette’s mom is currently a city councilor of Baguio. She became part of the council when one of the winning candidates (Bilog) died before the counting of ballots was over. In her campaign materials, she identified herself as from Sabangan, Mountain Province. She confirmed that Bernadette is her daughter during the campaign period.

Updates:

  • Bernadette’s mom is now a councilor of Baguio City.
  • After getting married with an Aguinaldo scion, she and her husband went to Baguio and and held a wedding ceremony/celebration at the Baguio Convention center. Her gown was partly made of an Igorot weave.
  • “Igorota” auctions self to raise funds for Santy John Tuyan

    Sunday, April 1st, 2007

    The winner chickened out. But anyway –

    Last month a woman who goes by the chat nickname “Igorota” auctioned herself off online for a date. The winning bidder ultimately stood her up, but she made P2,050 for her trouble.

    Another woman who calls herself “Jimili” offered her services online as a one-day maid-and drew a bigger amount of P5,000.

    The two Baguio-based women continued to hide behind their chat-room names even when the money they earned became part of a donation to finance the operation of 9-year-old Santy John Tuyan, who is afflicted with a heart ailment.

    To the wonders of Internet, add fundraiser for sick kids
    published April 30, 2006
    Philippine Daily Inquirer article by Vincent Cabreza

    Read the rest of the article at inquirer.net here.

    Why are they calling Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ‘Igorota?’

    Sunday, April 1st, 2007

    The term Igorota has been dragged into a scandal involving the First Gentleman.

    Maria Celia Virginia Suarez, the woman who claimed to have had an illicit affair with the First Gentleman, revealed that Atty. Mike Arroyo fondly called her “Favorita” and referred to Mrs. Arroyo as “Igorota.” Which was very appropriate since Attorney Arroyo resembles that ‘barrel man’ from Baguio. [Source: The Professional Heckler]

    The Philippines Star published an article that goes:

    [Suarez] said Mr. Arroyo, in their drinking sprees, would often refer to her as “favorita” and Mrs. Arroyo as “Igorota.”

    ‘Favorita’ and ‘Figaro’: Another scandal hits FG
    The Philippine Star
    March 13, 2007
    not archived online

    The paper got its information from here . All posts in the said blog have been deleted.

    Now a number of bloggers are calling Gloria Igorota as if it were the worst name in the world.

    Who is Alfredo Gayagay Lamen, Sr.?

    Friday, March 9th, 2007

    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]