Why, What's Wrong With My Name Igorot?

Myspace Filipino Comments This article is in reply to my friend Carl Carino Taawan’s Blog published in his website http://baguiosmile.blogspot.com. He described how the Igorot’s earned their name, and how some refused to accept the name. At the end he asks, “So, what should be the perfect name to call these distinctive people of these mountain ranges or “golot”?

The question of changing our “name” Igorot has been a question no one ever gave a satisfying answer until today. And there is no need for me to relate about the history of it because those stories can be found in the internet.

Consequently, I want to go straight to the point that “I am Igorot, and will stay that way! May the ghosts shall curse anyone who shall dare to change it - even when my body no longer alive!”

I do not like Cordilleran because while it is a foreign word it would still give you the same meaning...you’re a person from the mountain name Cordillera.

In my own opinion, there's no name to change, instead it’s the attitude of the people that should be changed. If we want to make the name IGOROT sounds like gold to the people who hears it, then we should strive more to improve our behavior, attitude, and culture, which we already have made a big leap.

If we read our history, it is unbelievable that we were once barbarians who got pleasure from HEADHUNTING. Thanks to the lives of those Priests who sacrificed everything to change us. Hence, we should not stop from who we are now, but work more to show the world and be proud how much we became. If we can do that, IGOROT will become one of the historical names in the world history books to be written.

Igorot is a general name for us...and it is unique. A name cropped up from our being an original people of this place. It is, therefore, proper that we have to continue making it more intriguing out of the ordinary name - for the world to see and learn that barbarians can become Holy ones when shown the right way to live as humans ((not as animals to be made as attraction in shows like the one at St. Louis World’s Fair, Missouri in 1904. For further reading read The Filipino ‘exhibit’ at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, Missouri, by Michelle Sit) .)

As an individual, no matter what common name or tribe you belong, everything you do reflect the attitude and behavior of the family, clan, tribe, and country you belong. And we can say, that each one of us represents the world and the ONE who made us.

Conclusion: Change ourselves by striving to become the best person we can become. I am sure, even the ugliest name, you can imagine, they will connect to us will turn into one of the most celebrated name on earth.


Tweet