[FEATURE] A retrospective on the people’s movement

April 23, 2024 | By Sophia Noelle Bonite

Participants of the Intercollege Workshop joined the community dancing held at the Museo Kordilyera Grounds at UP Baguio on April 20, 2024. (The Companion/S.N. Bonite)

Picture a night after dinner. You are comfortable and are just about to fall asleep. In a blink of an eye, you hear gunshots. You hear and feel the ground shaking because of an airstrike near your barrio. You hear accusations calling you a terrorist. And in the middle of the night, they forcibly pull you out of what you call home. 

Seeking the answers to what I’ve just imagined, I went to UP Baguio to visit an exhibit as part of the celebration of the 40th People’s Cordillera Day. Having only expected the exhibit, to my surprise, the student council, in collaboration with the Progressive Igorots for Social Action (PIGSA), was conducting an Intercollege Workshop where the exhibit was situated. 

The 40th People’s Cordillera Day is a retrospective on the region’s militant history.

Participants of the workshop learned about the history of the Cordillera struggle. I saw the eagerness in the eyes of everyone who was involved in educating themselves about the militant history and the rich culture of the region. The workshop was attended by students from different universities in Baguio. As a UP Baguio student myself, I can say with certainty that most of the population in the university are not from the region. 

Ian Villalobos, also a UP Baguio student who attended the workshop, expressed the importance of being aware of the condition and history of the region. As Iskolars ng Bayan, Ian believes that we should “lobby better solutions and more progressive actions to heed the calls of the Cordillerans.” 

He also emphasized that as Baguio students coming from the different provinces of the country, we can help create a safe and sound Cordillera through simply attending workshops and educational discussions to educate those who are uninformed.

To understand the root of Cordilleran struggle, we must take a look back at its history.

Prominent community leaders of the Kalinga and Bontoc people, Macli-ing Dulag and Pedro Dungoc, opposed the construction of the World Bank-funded Chico River Basin Hydroelectric Dam Project.The dam would have displaced their family and livelihood. On the night of April 24, 1980, state forces attempted to kill the two. Dulag died from multiple gunshots while Dungoc survived. Commemoration of Macli-ing’s assassination is what sparked the People’s Cordillera Day.

The Cordillera struggle was far from over when Macli-ing was killed. 

On April 28, 2023, Indigenous Peoples’ rights defenders Dexter Capuyan and Bazoo de Jesus were reported missing in a suspected case of enforced disappearances. Furthermore, on July 10, 2023, the Anti-Terrorism Council publicly labeled activist Jennifer Awingan and Cordillera Peoples Alliance chair Windel Bolinget as terrorists. On April 2, 2024, a series of military airstrikes rained down along the border of Ilocos Sur and Abra. 

Indigenous human rights defenders are still red-tagged as terrorists, further strengthened by  the Anti-Terror Law. Enforced disappearances on activists are still happening. Civilians are being bombed. Progressive groups experience intimidation and harassment from state forces. 

Recently, I had a chilling encounter with a strange man near the exit gate of UP Baguio. He had his phone held sideways in an extremely obvious filming position. I went right past him and took a glance at his phone. I trembled in fear seeing how he filmed students as they exited. This incident further validates a concern that UP students have always endured: targeted campus surveillance. If students of UP are subject to intelligence operations, what more for the activists who dedicate themselves to fighting for the oppressed?

During the Intercollege Workshop, Jobelle Mila, a UPB student, shared an eye-opening poem about the genocide in Palestine. Before sharing the poem, she talked about the parallels between the fight for Palestinian liberation and the history of the Cordilleran struggle.

“Hindi ang mga ampon ng lupa, ang magtatanim ng bomba 

O magpapahid ng mga dugo at gugutom sa mga inosenteng bata. 

Dahil totoo nga, sino tayo para angkinin ang isang bagay 

Na mananatili kailanman habang tayo ay lumipas na,” the poem ends.

The fight for ancestral domain and self-determination did not end when the chieftain of the Butbut tribe, Dulag, was killed. The commemoration of the People’s Cordillera Day mirrors the continuing struggle of the people that has yet to end. 

The land we set foot on is marked with the blood, sweat, and tears of Dulag, Dungoc, and all Cordilleran martyrs who fearlessly fought for the rights of the region and its indigenous people. As I walk along the streets of Baguio, I cannot help but feel the gaze of the unknown man watching me. In the silent Cordilleran night, will the region ever find the answer to the struggle?