Something on being “Igorot”
I was writing my paper in one of my courses and my topic touched about the effect of the missionary enterprise among the indigenous people and I had stumbled upon interesting information that would make us, Igorots proud of our roots.
……one is the fact known to many-The Spaniard’s failure to conquer the highlands is already a source of pride for many Igorots until now….
But here’s a more interesting one….in a certain article in TIME Magazine, issue of 26 December 1960, entitled “The Great Manhunt” quoted the late president JFK , as saying soon after his election, “I want to get the best men I can for this Cabinet jobs, and I don’t care if they are Democrats, Republicans or Igorots.” The TIME articles continued, “But what perhaps prompted JFK to include Igorots in his selection criteria for his cabinet were Mac Arthur’s tribute statement to the Igorots, to wit: “Many desperate acts of courage and heroism have fallen under my observation on many fields of battle on many parts of the world. I have seen last ditch stands and enumerable acts of personal heroism that defy description, but for sheer breathtaking and heart-stopping desperation, stand in tribute to these gallant Igorots.”
There you are, so being an Igorot is nothing to be ashamed of. Our ancestry is just like all others……let’s show to the world what it really means to be an Igorot…….
