News Roundup 09 August 2022
Aug 09, 2022 • 5 min Read
Ex-President Fidel Ramos laid to rest at Libingan ng mga Bayani | INQUIRER.NET – Former President Fidel V. Ramos was laid to rest Tuesday at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB). The tomb assigned to Ramos, the 12th chief executive of the country, was beside that of another former president, Elpidio Quirino. The remains of the late former Chief Executive first arrived at the LNMB after a private mass at past 10 a.m. Joining the final rites was President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who can be seen giving a salute to Ramos’ remains. Ramos, who also previously served as chief-of-staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and secretary of the Department of National Defense, was given full military honors with a 21-gun salute. A Philippine flag that covered Ramos’ casket was also turned over to the Ramos family, handed by Marcos. The song Alerta Filipinas, and two Christian songs — How Great Thou Art and Ama Namin (the 1986 version) — were being played during the funeral march as he was being laid to to his final resting place, as per the request of the former president, relayed through eldest daughter Angel Ramos Jones. Prior to the burial, a funeral mass was held at the Heritage Chapel in Taguig City. Ramos, who served as president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998, died last July 31 at the age of 94. He is remembered for a number of achievements during his presidency such as resuscitating the economy, allowing the country to rid itself of the reputation as “the sick man of Asia.’’
Rights lawyer who survived attack in Iloilo awarded Baldwin Medal of Liberty | INQUIRER.NET – Human rights lawyer Angelo Karlo Guillen, after being red-tagged for his work with indigenous people and surviving an assassination attempt in 2021, has been awarded the Baldwin Medal of Liberty. “I am honored to accept the Baldwin Medal, which I do on behalf of all Filipino human rights lawyers and defenders,” said Guillen in a statement. Guillen is a lawyer from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and legal counselor to one of the 37 petitions questioning the Anti-Terrorism Act in the Supreme Court. He survived a screwdriver attack in 2021 wherein his laptop and documents were stolen, allegedly due to his defense of 16 Tumandok tribe members who were arrested in 2020. The Iloilo-based lawyer remembered the Tumandok tribe and other disenfranchised sectors during his acceptance of the award, which happened to fall on National Indigenous Peoples Day. “Indigenous peoples, like the Tumandok community, as well as farmers, labor leaders, and activists, have borne the brunt of unjust arrests, extrajudicial killings, and other human rights violations committed by state security forces that, to this day, still take place throughout the country. Their rights must be protected, and we hope that this recognition will help bring attention to their plight,” said Guillen. The international award recognizes people who have significantly advanced human rights outside the United States, with previous recipients including Hong Kong human rights lawyer Albert Ho and Egyptian activist Kholoud Saber Barakat.
Cordillera IPs assert ownership of bahag, indigenous culture against misuse | PHILSTAR.COM – In the past decade, Philippine indigenous weaves and garments have received renewed interest among Filipinos and even foreigners. They have taken the spotlight in fashion shows, formal gatherings like the State of the Nation Address, and beauty pageants. While the recognition these garments receive for their intricate beauty and cultural significance is well-deserved, Indigenous Peoples (IPs) are quick to call out use of their cultural pieces when it crosses the line from cultural appreciation to bastardization. This was the case when candidates of the international “Man of the World” pageant in June strutted the bahag (male Igorot loincloth) in the swimwear segment. The event came under fire after making Cordilleran IPs feel that an important piece of their Igorot identity was not only erroneously presented but was also disrespected. Collectively referred to as “Igorots”, or “people of the mountain”, the people of the Cordillera region comprise seven major ethnolinguistic groups: the Kankanaey, Bontoc, Kalinga, Ifugao, Tingguian, the Apayao or Isneg, and the Ibaloy. Indigenous activist Joan Carling writes in a 2001 piece on the Cordilla Experience that while “these are the popular reference to indigenous groups, but there are more ‘peoples’ as distinct as ‘ili’.” “‘Ili’ is a self identifying group of indigenous people, with their own defined territory as their ancestral land, and their own indigenous socio-cultural systems,” she also writes. Like that of many IP groups, Cordilleran culture is underrepresented in the mainstream and is prone to caricature. “With the advent of colonialism, indigenous peoples were considered savages who were barbaric and uncivilized because they resisted assimilation to the mainstream colonized society,” Carling writes. “Later, they were subjected to forced assimilation and development aggression which in many instances resulted in their further isolation from the so-called mainstream society.” This isolation manifests in the use of their material culture as costumes as well as in IP communities being marginalized in discussions on development policy and on how the state will use their ancestral lands. Marcos Mangallay, a researcher and a member of the Applai people in Mountain Province, was one of those who raised an eyebrow at the pageant’s misuse of the bahag. “[It was] very disturbing to see the bahag worn that way,” Mangallay told Philstar.com. “It is not just that they disrespected our culture, but at the same time, it showed the world that we sometimes act out of ignorance.” In a community discussion, several IPs who preferred to not be named to protect their privacy raised their contentions over how the pageant went too far by showcasing the bahag as swimwear, which it is not.
