An Igorot youth group has slammed incoming Senator Imee Marcos for her controversial statement about blessing her new Senate office with an indigenous ritual.
The Progressive Igorot for Social Action called the senator out in a statement yesterday.
“May we then remind Imee that there is no such thing as ‘mga Igorot namin (our Igorots)’ You don’t own us, and you never will,” the statement reads. “We pride ourselves with our refusal to be owned, if you care to read about our history of struggle way back to the Spanish colonization.”
Imee, the daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, visited the Senate building in Pasay City on Tuesday where she inherited the office formerly occupied by political rival Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV. While talking to reporters, Imee said that she would like to have the office “blessed” with an Igorot ritual.
“Siguro magpapatawag ako ng mga Igorot namin dahil kailangan basbasan ang office ko dahil kay Sen. Trillanes ata ang nabunot. Iyun na lang natira, nahuli yata ang tao ko. Sabi bunutan eh,” she said.
(Maybe I’ll have some of our Igorots called in because my office needs to be blessed because I think [my staff] ended up picking Senator Trillanes’ [old room]. That was the only one left, my people were late. They had to draw lots.)
“Iyun na lang ang natira so kung papayag si Sen. Trillanes, sasabihin ko kay Sonny makikisayaw kami sa mga Igorot namin para mabendisyunan ng todo.”
(That was the only one left so if Senator Trillanes allows, I’ll tell [him] that we’ll dance with our Igorots so it can be blessed totally.)
The Igorot are people from various ethnic groups in the mountains of Luzon island, which is close to the Marcos family’s hometown and political stronghold of Ilocos Norte.
The Progressive Igorot for Social Action said they “flinched, with anger and disgust” when they heard what Imee said.
“A murderer and a thief taking our culture for granted, and stealing our identity to the point of even owning it — that person must be held accountable and condemned,” their statement reads.
President Marcos’ 21-year rule was marred with corruption and human rights violations. It is estimated that the Marcos family stole anywhere from US$5 billion to US$10 billion when they were in power. Among other human rights violations, 1,217 people died in summary executions during Marcos’ martial law, ABS-CBN News reported.
The Igorot youth group’s statement also cited the controversial Chico River Dam Project, which would have displaced about 100,000 people from Igorot tribes. This was a priority project for President Marcos but affected communities vehemently protested against it. It was finally shelved after public outrage following the assassination of opposition leader Macli-ing Dulag, who was killed by government soldiers in 1980.
“It was the militant movement of the Igorot that led to the project’s demise — a historic contribution to the dictator’s eventual downfall,” Progressive Igorot for Social Action said.
They also held Imee accountable for allegations linked directly to her, including “theft, falsification of records, and murders.”
Apart from corruption allegations, Imee was also linked to the death of college student Archimedes Trajano who was mauled in 1977 after questioning the then first daughter’s appointment as director of the National Youth Council during a public forum.
More recently, it was also discovered in this year’s mid-term election campaign that Imee had lied about graduating from both the Princeton University and the University of the Philippines.
Progressive Igorot for Social Action also called Imee out for appropriating their culture.
“May we remind Imee that our dances are a sacred heritage from our beloved ancestors, who, we reiterate, taught us how it is to fight for our own, to refuse to be owned,” they said. “[A]sking the Igorot to dance for a blessing is a mockery of the sanctity of our rituals and traditions.”
“We will not dance for you, because a dance for a Marcos is a dance for shame,” the statement ends.
