As sexual crimes against them increase: Igorotas want back the night

by Marilou Guieb Women's Feature Service

Baguio City--In July last year, a farmer from Buguias, Benguet, was meted the lethal injection sentence for raping his stepdaughter on two occasions. It was the first sexually related crime that received the death penalty in the Cordillera region.

In the old days, there was no equivalent term for rape in the languages of the various tribes of the Cordillera, a mountain range in northern Luzon.

A report from the Women and Children's Desk of the Baguio City Police states that in 1999, there were a recorded total of 328 cases of violence against women and 129 cases of child abuse, mostly of a sexual nature. This does not include cases compiled in the other Cordillera regions, the reports of NGOs, and files of centers for human rights, let alone, the greater number of unreported cases.

In a recent gathering of Igorots on the occasion of the Third Igorot International Conference held in Baguio City, an elderly man expressed regret over how differently the Igorots of the past viewed their sexuality from the Igorots of today.

In the old days, men and women had control over their sexual decisions. But today's scenario of rape, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) frightens the elders of this highland society.

It couldn't really be a question of permissiveness, this man said. For in his youth, young ladies and men could spend long hours of the night together playing games and sharing beds in the old system of ulogs or agamangs (In the old days, unmarried girls slept together in one house called ulogs or agamangs ).

And they were naked or very scantily dressed - the men just wrapped in a little barkcloth over their private parts and the women barebreasted with only tattoos covering their arms. This completely negates the chauvinist claim today that women dressed provocatively set themselves up for sexual assaults from men.

Maybe we should tell our people to run naked once more, said this Igorot man who has lived most of his adult life in America where, ironically, rights and freedoms are exalted but where the sickest sexual crimes abound.

Behind his humor was a reproach and a looking back to a romantic past when trial marriages were not the same as promiscuity; nakedness was not shameful, and courtship had songs and rituals. And yes, free love.

Igorots then were comfortable with their sexuality and allowed events to transpire according to the cosmic guidance of their nature gods, a sexual view that did not include the notion of power and dominance of men over the bodies of women.

"Machismo"

Practices then did not encourage "machismo" in terms of conquests in bed. Fertility, not virginity, was highly valued in the traditional communities of these mountain regions. In fact, no marriage was really sealed until the birth of a child. Infertility was not perceived as the fault of either spouse, but caused by the ancestors' displeasure of the union.

Tribals were humble worshippers of their many gods who they believed could give them blessings or misfortunes according to how they were appeased or displeased. As such, female and male gods set the example of gender equity, for they were portrayed as equals united to procreate and multiply a tribe.

Several studies exploring Igorot sexuality reveal that a woman was free to express her sexuality. She was free to choose her own mate during puberty, initiate courtship, marriage and even divorce, and have a child outside of marriage.

Absence of rape

June Brett-Prill, an anthropology professor at the University of Baguio, who did an extensive analysis of Bontoc sexuality by immersing herself in the community life of this mountain town, cites, "During my 1968 to 1970 field research on Bontok warfare, I found no term for rape and also the absence of rape cases from my compilation of legal cases. When I interviewed the elders and, later, the old women, I realized that this concept was absent in the culture."

Brett-Prill further said that these elders informed her that it was inconceivable for a man to force a woman to have sex if she did not consent to it. If a woman rejected a man, there were many other women he could court and who would like him, so why force her?

She cited that even in warfare, women from the enemy villages were never sexually violated. During warfare, women caught in the rice fields could defend themselves when they spotted an approaching enemy by disrobing and exposing their sexual organs and cursing the men by shouting "Go back into the place where you came from!"

Prill-Brett explained that this was a curse strongly believed to bring them bad luck, because in some forgotten past, when men pursued their revenge on women who exposed their vaginas, they literally lost their heads in battle.

For the Igorots of the past, taking an enemy's head in vengeance was a heroic act. But rape and acts of domestic violence against women were taboo and made of them men of no honor. And honor was as dear as life itself to these tribal men. Thus, there were times when women were not spared a beheading, but their men never raped them.

Incest was taboo

Community life was a factor of survival in those days, and to be ostracized was a sanction perhaps equal to life imprisonment today. Thus, taboos, carefully instilled in childhood to safeguard values and the dignity of each person, were honored traditions.

One of the strongest sexual taboos was incest. The taboo then was against the mere suggestion of incest, and far from the bestial act of father or other male kin violating a daughter or grandchild, a crime that often makes today's tabloid headlines.

Tradition clearly dictated that it was incestuous for cousins (up to the third degree) to have a relationship. Brothers and sisters must avoid membership in the same work group. Young men and ladies slept in separate community dormitories as early as seven years old, because it was taboo for them to sleep under the same roof.

Even jokes and words with sexual connotations were considered greatly insulting when uttered in the presence of gathered male and female relatives. Lying down (without excuse of illness) in the presence of generational siblings was a shame.

In the old Ifugao society, violations of the incest taboo were punishable by decapitation executed by any male member of the family. It was a disgrace not to punish, resulting in divine punishment by the spirits of procreation.

Death is no longer imposed as a punishment today, but the taboo breaker is believed to turn impotent, sexually or economically. Death of all children or other bad luck can be a consequence. (From reports of the Cordillera Task Force on Violence against Women)

But the Cordillera region has fallen prey to modern decadence that has given rise to sexual crimes. The advent of cable television in the interior provinces has perverted the values of young and old alike, especially because the trashier and cheaper films find a more vulnerable market in these poorer areas. Like elsewhere in the country, mothers here are away earning dollars to alleviate their poverty in the countryside.

Statistics of drunken fathers creeping into their daughters' beds in the absence of their wives are on the rise. In 1998, a report from the Women's Police Desk of Baguio City stated that eight out of ten cases of incest rape and child molestation happen in families where the mother is an OCW.

In Baguio City, one-room dwellings, occupied by urban poor migrants from the highland provinces, were found to be conducive atmospheres for incest.

Often, the traditions of these old tribes have been disdained as primitive and violent. But there must be an irony there, if only because women then walked at night with no fear of danger lurking in the dark.

-- CyberDyaryo

March 2001