LAST time I wrote about the world view of the Cordilleran. By world view, I referred to how the Cordillerans regard and interacts with the world. I emphasized that the world view of the Cordilleran is composed of two worlds: the terestial (physical) ancestral domain and the spiritual domain. According to anthropologists and PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, the two worlds are one.
In the handbook for Land Tenure Instruments produced with the Committee on Indigenous People's Concern with the Regional Development Council, CAR.
Regional Director Batay-an of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Cordillera emphasized that the sacredness/sanctity of the IP lands (in the Cordillera) is a non-negotiable part of LTI Hand Book. Sanctity of the land is part of the WORLD VIEW of most of indigenous peoples including the Cordillerans.
LTI means Land Tenure Improvement and refers to the various land titles and land other papers that prove ownership/management of lands and the resources therein by owners of the land.
Our psyche as Cordillerans has been a great interest. I can remember years back asking someone who did researches and wrote papers on the Cordillera about the psyche of the Cordillera. Instead he referred me to someone who wrote about the Filipino psyche. My (com) passion for the Cordillera psyche, if ever there is such continues to haunt me. This time I called Rose Yenko. Rose is a practitioner of Jungian Psychology. I met Rose when she was a consultant of the Department of Agrarian Reform for Organizational Development. And that was the start of projects for DAR among which is the forum workshop- "Cordillera Administrative Region, Interface with the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act."
The forum-workshop tackled Intellectual Property Rights and Market for Agrarian Reform Communities in the Cordilleras among others. The document is part of the library collection of the DAR.
For most people the term psyche refers to the "soul". Soul as a word comes too esoteric or even mystical. Soul is mostly related to religion. As I got in from Rose, psyche in Psychology involves the "ego". Oh boy, it seems things are getting more complex and probably boring to you our dear readers. Let's try to simplify what is the psyche so all of us who are not psychologists can relate to it. This is what I got from Rose in our conversation over the phone using the phone of the DAR. It's an official task on my part as member of the Public Affairs Staff which deals with information.
Ego simply refers to the unconscious, subconscious and conscious as part of the Psyche. Ego is a collection of memories, histories, WORLD VIEW, values and patterns of behavior of an individual. There are things beyond the ego of an individual so that the individual is bigger than the ego. But can there is there such a collective or tribal ego? I asked Rose. Cordillerans live in communities which are by themselves collectives. At this point I want to make it clear that what I mean by collective is not just community of individuals with bodies and their resources. I mean a cohesion and sharing of one world view. And this is true to Coredillerans. They share a common worl view wherever they are in this part of the globe.
Please read past column: "World View of the Cordilleran where I qouted Dr. Henry Pit-og, Jr who said that he is an "Igorot in America." The late Doctor could have said "he is an American Igorot." His statement is loaded with subliminal meanings that are part his personal world view, history and pattern of behaving. It is a statement from one who is a Cordilleran (Bontok) who spent half his life well in America. The ego as part of the psyche of the Cordillera in this case sends subliminal messages and meanings of the world view, value and a way of behaving of "an Igorot in America." That's how the late Dr. Pit-og described himself. He could have said: I am an American Igorot. That's quite different from what Pit-og said for sure and meant.
The collective psyche of Cordillerans even today IS A CULTURAL PSYCHE shaped by a common history, yet diverse in ways the Cordilleran and his/her community assimilated and continues to assimilate social, political and economic changes which to a certain extent disrupted or even improved how Cordillerans are today.
A vision for autonomy for the Cordillera crafted with a common history with the Americans, Japanese and the different regimes of the Philippine Republic including the Marcos dictatorship, return of democracy under the Cory Administration and the ones who preceeded it continue to shape the psyche of the Cordilleran. The rejection of the two organic acts aimed to create an autonomous region is part of the developing psyche of the Cordilleran.
Regional autonomy for the CAR today can not be decided on the bases of promises of economic growth based on mineral wealth for example, or the billions of money for the autonomous region as contained in the second draft organic act which again, for purposes of emphasis, was rejected. Discussions of the merits for regional autonomy can not be based on provisions of the two rejected draft organic acts -the Cordilleran has moved. For one the Cordilleran is a global person who helps pour billions of dollars in the Cordillera and yet s/he has to deal with peace related the ancestral domain of his/her community. The community may not be the traditional ili.
S/he is an Igorot at the same time a Cordilleran which is a very critical issue of identity today. Psyche is part of identity shaped by a unique history, development, a common world view, diversity and even values held in common. Regional Autonomy, I believed is cultural. It is way beyond the tangibles e.g. money/investments. Regional autonomy if one reads his/her history is about identity. Among the subliminal images for regional autonomy is who is the Cordilleran with an autonomous government? Psyche is part of that!