Good afternoon to everyone!
Before our cultural dance performance, I would just like to introduce to you MABIKAs Foundation. We are a group of indigenous people from the Philippine Cordillera Region, which is Northern part of the Philippines. We’ve formed our foundation here in the Netherlands for the purpose of helping to preserve our indigenous knowledge and culture, especially that we are all thousand miles away from home.
Today, we, the Igorots or Cordillerans, join you, our compatriots and friends in the Netherlands, in celebrating the 119th anniversary of the Declaration of Philippine. We, the Igorots or Cordillerans, warmly salute all the martyrs and heroes of the struggle for national freedom, especially our Igorot forefathers who took part in the struggle against Spanish, US and Japanese colonial rule.
For 350 years, our forefathers resisted Spanish rule in the Cordilleras aimed at controlling the gold mine and trade with neighboring provinces and to maintain our beliefs and institutions. Our forefathers joined the Katipunan and the Philippine Revolutionary Army that resisted Spanish and US colonial rule. Our forefathers bravely fought in the defense of Bataan earning the praise of US Gen. Douglas McArthur with the famous quote “ those Gallant Igorots”. They provided the manpower for the guerilla and regular battles of the Philippine-US armed forces that defeated the Japanese occupation army headed Gen. Yamashita, in its final stand in the Cordillera.
The Igorots/Cordillerans bravely bore the price of resistance. Their homes were burned down and population reduced due to killings, forced relocation and labor and diseases spread by the colonizers.
Disastrous colonial tactic of pitting one tribe against each other, of demonizing them as “pagans” and “uncivilized”, exhibiting them in international fairs in Madrid and US to justify the so-called “civilizing role” of colonial rule- pitting lowlanders vs, the various tribes and above all, imposing control over their ancestral lands and resources had a disastrous impact. These colonial policies laid the basis of discrimination and national oppression up till now.
From the ruins of the Spanish-US-Japanese wars of conquest and plunder, the Igorots or Cordillerans self-reliantly rebuilt their communities, social system and economy.
Today, the igorots/Cordillerans are drawing on their experiences in the long anti-colonial struggle to raise their voice and demand for the right to self-determination, defense of their ancestral land and respect.
And on this particular day, we, the Igorots or Cordillerans, unite with the entire Filipino people in our desire to complete the revolutionary dream of their forefathers and entire Filipino people for genuine national sovereignty, democracy and tunay na kalayaan.
Without further ado, here we are to dance our traditional dance of thanksgiving and rejoicing. Thank you very much and enjoy watching!
The above statement was written by Rev. Cesar Taguba, member of the MABIKAs Foundation Advisory Committee, as the organization’s statement in celebration of the 119th Philippine Independence Day. The message was then delivered by Myra Colis, MABIKAs Founding Chairperson as an introductory talk before the team performed an Igorot dance during the celebration of Philippine Independence Day 2017 both in Spaarnwoude and Den Haag, The Netherlands.
