IN THE face of a tragedy, the Ibaloys struggle to bury their dead.
In honor of tradition, a call for pinewood coffins has been made by Loacan, Itogon Barangay Captain Andres Cuyan in order to administer the proper rituals and assure the peaceful assent of the Ibaloy soul, adding the donated coffins for the dead in Itogon cannot be used.
“Ni-reject da diyay puraw nga plywood ta haan tayo nga ugali agusar kasjay (They rejected the white painted plywood commercial coffins because it is not within our culture to use those for our dead),” Cuyan explained.
Cuyan said a strict adherence to tradition is being requested by Ibaloy families in Itogon who want a decent burial for relatives who perished. Donations are also welcome as the cost for pinewood coffins are steep with prices at least P20,000 up.
The barangay official said relatives either look for pinewood in neighboring municipalities or order from funeral parlors to have the traditional coffins made, so far, there have been three delivered but as the body count increases, the need will grow.
Roads leading to Kabayan and Bokod towns where pinewood is gathered are still closed, making transport of coffins difficult leaving families to order ones made by commercial funeral parlors.
Human rights lawyer and Ibaloy, Jose Molintas explaieds the Ibaloy culture calls for burial of the dead in a pinewood coffin without metal, sans nails, with each piece made to fit. It is believed the coffin helps the body to decay naturally and if any metal touching the remains may cause bad dreams to the family.
In the book the Ibaloys of Benguet by Rose Fianza White, it reveals when an Ibaloy dies, the beliefs and rituals handed down from generation to generation are adhered to. By tradition, the body of the person is wrapped in death blankets in accordance to his ancestor’s social status placed in a pine log coffin.
The Ibaloys believe the dead’s spirit journeys to Mt. Pulag, (considered heaven the power and the ability to communicate with the spirit world through prayers) where spirits of ancestors converge and become one with the gods.
A mambunong (a native priest who performs rituals) has is to be present to administer the proper rituals, prayers, offerings and material requirements.
During the wake, the immediate family and relatives make offerings of pigs/ cows/ carabaos/ horses are made while others make material offerings like money and rice wine called “mo e-aspul’ (to give their dead kin, now in Pulag as the spirits are are bound to meet).
Benguet is known for its rich gold deposits and the Ibaloy were already into small scale mining even before the Spanish Colonization.
In the search for metal, the methods of “sayo” [gold panning] and “usok” [tunneling or small scale mining] were used. It was when foreigners came that the mining industry boomed, the natives started prospecting on their own and stacking their claim, the Ibaloy ended up selling their ancestral lands and became laborers for the mining companies instead.
Up to this day, some Ibaloys are still engaged in gold panning as the source of their income, using the same tools and procedures taught by previous generations.