Palace declares Ibaloy Day a public holiday in Baguio
BAGUIO CITY—The annual Ibaloy Day will be celebrated as a public holiday in Baguio on Feb. 23 to honor a landmark doctrine that recognized indigenous Filipinos’ rights over their ancestral lands.
But a Malacañang official wants to give the Baguio heirs of Ibaloy chieftain Mateo Cariño a bigger role in forthcoming celebrations.
In a Jan. 12 letter to the city government, Assistant Secretary Antonio Tabora Jr, presidential assistant for the Cordillera, announced that Malacañang wanted Ibaloy heritage to be “elevated to the national consciousness,” when President Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1125 declaring Feb. 23 as a special nonworking day in Baguio City.
Ibaloy Day celebrates the Feb. 23, 1909, decision by the United States Supreme Court which acknowledged the existence of Native Title, or the property rights of Cariño, and consequently all indigenous peoples (IP) homestead owners, over lands where they lived “since time immemorial.”
Cariño, who died before the decision was issued, had sued to protect his lands which were sequestered by the US military at the beginning of American colonial rule in the country in the early 1900s. The contested land is now Camp John Hay.
The Native Title Doctrine became the foundation for the indigenous Filipino protections enshrined in the 1987 Constitution as well as the passage of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act of 1997 (Republic Act No. 8371).
Tabora’s letter was discussed during this week’s session of the Baguio City council.
Tabora, who served as Baguio councilor and vice mayor in the late 1980s, also suggested entrusting the management of the event to the incorporators of the Baguio Ibaloy group Onjon ni Ivadoy, specifically two representatives of the Mateo Cariño clan, to be joined by two members of the Baguio Ibaloy Council of Elders namely Judith Maranes and Jose Baluda, former mayor of Tuba, Benguet.
Leadership
Onjon has been organizing Ibaloy Day activities since 2010, after the late journalist and a member of the Cariño clan, Cecille Afable, convinced the council to institutionalize Ibaloy Day in 2009.
Tabora said the term of Onjon’s current leadership under Demosthenes Paus had lapsed and had also referenced “compliance issues regarding (Onjon’s) general information sheet and financial statements,” which he said might cloud the relevance of Proclamation 1125 for Baguio Ibaloys.
Tabora also warned that Councilor Maximo Edwin, the incumbent Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) to the city council, might be confronted with questions over Onjon’s “legal personality,” because he serves as Onjon board director under Paus’ leadership.
The letter was issued three days before the new round of selection for Baguio IPMR, which Edwin won narrowly by a point on Jan. 15 in a heated contest that had divided Ibaloy clans regarding rule changes. Beauregard “Adon” Carantes lost the race but is planning a legal challenge, according to his family.
