Weygan-Allan: Igorot Diaspora
ONE reason I like with Igorot international gatherings like the Igorot International consultations (IIC) is the opportunity to catch up with the greater tribal community. We were given an opportunity by Reverend Jay Watan during one workshop of IIC12 in Hawaii last August 2-5, 2018. IICs are great opportunities to meet since participants come from the motherland and particular to IIC12 were participants from USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. I am not sure if we had participants from other Asian countries
Reverend Watan called it the circle of trust, encouraging participants to approach people we do not personally know and ask personal questions to know more about the person. It was a limited time as we were given a question to ask and spent only two minutes with the person before we move on to the next person. One of the questions was “how are we related?” and the person I met was Edralin from Hawaii and here is her story. Edralin was born in Hawaii and recently have taken genealogy lessons and so was able to find trace of her ancestry from the Philippines. She is not sure as she has never been to the Philippines but would remember stories of her grandparents talking about her roots from a place that is bounded by Abra, Ilocos and Sagada. That could be Besao. She also remembers Baguio and Naguilian as possible residence of her great great grandparents. She attended the IIC with her mother with the hope of giving more clear snapshots of her ancestry.
The next question was “what makes you happy?” and the person I met was Lucena, 89 years old, migrated before the war, and is now based in Hawaii. Her answer to being happy is being with in laws, children and family. Being grateful to be alive to serve God and people. She remembers stories about the war in Hawaii, the Pearl Harbor, World War II where her family served during the war and after. After migration she has never been back to the Philippines but she remembers stories of her parents about Igorot and Ilocano ancestry. She is excited to go home to the Philippines for the next IIC.
The time was very short when I met my third member of the Igorot Diaspora. He is Samson and Engineer from the Philippines but came to serve in the US Navy. He tells stories of his service in the USA, the disparities of the motherland and his adopted country especially in government service and lifestyle. He admits he has frequented the Philippines and just recently retired from the military.
The next person I met was a young man Scott from Colorado, has at least one fourth Filipino blood and believes that good morals and learnings should be passed on to the next generation. He talks of his parents but still needs to know more of the traditions and history of their country and the Igorot tribes. He is in search of connectives of the past and the present.
Meeting younger generation member Geraldine from Canada was a rushed one as we talked of people who mentored us. She said she was mentored by her parents, teachers and friends. She also is excited knowing that the Igorot village is a place to raise a child. She has high hopes for the next generation and hopes that IICs will help the younger generations in connecting to their roots.
After meeting some more members of the Igorot Diaspora I see a common denominator of continued search of connectives and opportunities to reconnect with their heritage whether they were born overseas or in the Philippines. Attending the IIC was an intentional move towards this purpose. If there was one thing that the Igorot Global Organization (IGO) has accomplished it would be this- the IIC the reconnects families and tribes of the Igorotlandia. It has created a regular venue of meeting people and visiting the places where descendants of the Igorots have moved on, lived and call home. In this particular IIC, it was to visit Hawaii where Ilocano is considered a majority ethnic identity, and where Igorots have called home. So much so that the other participants were so proud to say “teken nan wada nan agi isna” it is different because we have relatives here, who took the time to host us and lead us in the sightseeing activities. They were proud of Hawaii and being part of it, that many of the participants had prolonged stay after or before the conference.
This is also true in some of the IICs I attended where relatives brought us around and hosted our pasyar in London, in Melbourne and in the other IIC locations. And I reiterate the comment of many “kagagasing nan wada nan kabagian ya kaising.”