' C H i ' from the cooooool clouds

(From what's left of my 
 Personal Archive,
 written on said date:)


Oct. 29, 1999

Manila Standard

c/o Mr. DON REYES

BENGUET'S BACKYARD CEMETERIES

by Chi Balmaceda Gutierrez

   Baguio City-- Benguet Highlands hogged the headlines 
a few months back because of its famous ancient mummies, 
such as the almost-mythic Ibaloi warrior, Apo Anno. 

(see recent post -- 
http://chaddaw.multiply.com/photos/album/66/the_mummy>)

   The entry of Christianity into the matrix 
of the Cordillera's life and death rituals-- which were 
centered upon mummification and ancestor worship-- 
had put a stop to all that, rendering the mummies 

as relics of Cordillera's ancient past civilization.

   Unknown to many lowlanders, burying the dead within 
the house yard is also a prevalent practice up to now 
among the Ibaloi and Kankana-ey tribal descendants.

   It would surely dawn on the unwitting outsider as some 
kind of spooky, horror stuff, but it is a common site in 
the mountains to see white-washed tombs by the roadside. 
Beside family-owned cutflower gardens, private mines, 
vegetable patch or fields, and even right within the 
household domain -- ancestral graves could be found.

    For example, the remains of the Laoyan family ancestors, 
a famous Igorot family in La Trinidad, Benguet, could be found 
right within their living room, said Cordillera Resource Center's 
Paul Fianza and photojournalist Dave Chan Leprozo.

    In the mining district of Tuding in Itogon, the Moncado family 
has two stark white pantheons near their gold milling  workshop, 
right beside a bedroom window. Former DENR employee Bong Tuvera's 
father's grave is found right in front of the yard, while his 
grandmother's is in the backyard. The same with his neighbors like 
the Gamiaos and Segundos, as well as the nearby Sisters of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary which has a picturesque little convent 
cemetery bearing seven of its nuns' remains.

    Although there are communal Christian cemeteries now in the 

Cordilleras, Claire Alumno of Kabayan, a town very famous for its 

numerous burial caves said, "No member of our family has been 
buried in any Christian public cemetery, although I have no 
memory when the family stopped the practice of interment in the 
burial caves." 

    Kalinga's Marie Balwayan, 32, said the same thing about the 
practices in her hometown.

    As a way of coping with loss and pain, the highlanders still 
have a fairly strong belief in traditional customs. Last 
October 19, Baguio Gold District's Josie Tuling had her father 
exhumed. In a dream, the father said he felt uncomfortable with 
his blanket, and so Josie had the heirloom blanket changed. 
It was the second time they had ever excavated their patriarch's 
grave. The first time was when he complained in a another dream 
within this year that his grave was wet. Indeed, they found out 
that water was running through the burial site, and they had his 
grave transferred.

    Lowlander Linda Perez who used to own a bakery said, "When 

delivering bread in the hillside towns, I used to cringe with 
goose bumps seeing graves anywhere, but not anymore. I've gotten 
used to them. Even old-timer lowlanders have adopted to the 
custom."

    Gabby Pawid Keith, Mayor Mauricio Domogan's information 
officer, said that it was usually their lowlander-maids who 
found their backyard spooky. Their backyard cemetery along 
the Marcos Highway, which has four graves from four 
generations of the Pawid clan, was his playground as a child. 

    In fact, he added, "All Saints' Day is more important 
to us than Christmas day, because every Nov. 1, we get to 
have the biggest family reunion. It is very convenient 
and we don't get caught up in downtown traffic."

    Through the years, however, as the Benguet backyard 
burial practices seem to have crowded some neighborhoods, 
some commentaries over the radio have been heard. Jokes 
about fears of ghosts and even the issues of sanitation, 
gore and aesthetics were mentioned.

    "There is a national law -- but no local ordinance -- 
prohibiting the burying of the dead in residential areas," 
said Regional Health Department's OIC Susan Cabalda. 
"Are there any complaints?" she asked.
 

    It is not an issue at the moment, she said, as they 
have not received any complaint.-- end

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