Mapapa-wow ka sa ganda ng kantang ito. I think it typifies the kind of songs we love in the Cordilleras — smooth, kind of quiet (or walang vocal theatricals), and meaningful.

Jun Utleg used to be a member of Binhi, the Baguio band known for that hauntingly beautiful song, “Ang Bata”. I remember hearing “Ang Bata” performed in one of Baguio’s bars, was haunted by it, and went back the following night to buy a copy of the band’s record. I can imagine myself doing that for this song, “Igorota”.

Fellow bloggers: Let’s help promote this song. I-blog na rin ninyo sa inyong blog hehe.

VIDEO CREDIT: Jun Utleg

Samingad is reportedly more famous in Japan than in her native Taiwan. You can read more about her here.

Does anyone of you know any Samingad in the Cordillera? It sounds like an Igorot/iCordillera name doesn’t it? Maybe they’re related to this singer, baka 56th degree cousin sila?

It would have been nice if the video shows us some Taiwan aborigines but the road footage is good too and fits the music quite nicely. The road kinda looks like Halsema if Halsema is paved.

His fans produced different versions of his song which isn’t surprising because it’s really catchy [and as I stated here, sounds much better than the Olympic theme song hehe].

Anyways, here’s an Ibaloi’s version of Renaldo’s song courtesy of igoysiak, a kailiyan currently based in Illinois.

Mike Enriquez, GMA-7’s talking head and news reader, reports on illegal quarrying in Tuba, Benguet. This is the first part of the report. You can watch the second part here. It’s good of course that a television program is doing these kind of stories. The more illegal activities are brought to light, the lesser the probability that people will undertake them.

Having said that, I must say that its really frustrating to watch Imbestigador. Why? Because it only goes after the small fish. Puro naman pipitsugin ang iniimbistiga ng programang ito. Its reports are mostly about barangay captains who are corrupt, or army soldiers who did something wrong, or some principal out there who was misbehaving.

I don’t think Imbestigador has ever made an investigative report on corruption and illegal activities that are of national significance. I remember watching an Imbestigador episode during the time when Gloria admitted that she manipulated the elections in Mindanao. Mike Enriquez, with his booming voice, did a very short segment on the scandal but then he based his report on the investigative work of PCIJ.

I was like, “What a shame. GMA-7, the biggest network in the country with all the resources at its disposal, is depending its report on presidential cheating on the work of a small, underfunded, struggling but gallant media organization?”

Then and there, I stopped watching Imbestigador. And I lost respect for its talking head. Pipitsugin lang pala ang kaya nilang imbistigahan.

Related story from the Inquirer after the jump.

Yabadabadoo industry in Ifugao booming
By EV Espiritu, Elmer Kristian Dauigoy / Inquirer

BANAUE, Ifugao—Every three years in this town that is famous for the rice terraces, men in G-strings race down the road using homemade wooden scooters.

The race, part of the Imbayah (Merrymaking) Festival here, has drawn fans who have witnessed a fleet of scooters speeding down the terraces.

Unknown to many here, the race also serves as a marketing showcase for these scooters.

After the race, tourists negotiate to buy the scooters, some priced as high as P15,000.

The scooters have become a “midnight-madness” spectacle because their underground retail is one of the few profitable businesses in the agriculture-dominated Ifugao economy.

Aside from the terraces, a perennial tourist draw, most Ifugao eke out a living selling woodcarvings as well as woven G-strings and hats topped with feathers or foliage to simulate age and ritual authenticity.

The race has been profitable, says Rafael Buccahan, 31, who makes wooden scooters.

The scooters began selling for P500 in 2005 when photos published in newspapers caught the attention of many visitors.

Buccahan says the scooters used to help his older relatives ferry food stock or vegetables around town.

The first scooter was made of ordinary firewood and twine. It belonged to a local town mayor in the 1960s.

Rubber tires had not been available then so the mayor carved the wheels from wood. The wooden wheels were greased from the sap of a local shrub.

Kalinga solon appointed as Mountain Province congressional caretaker
By Dexter See/Northern Philippine Times

BONTOC, Mountain Province – House Speaker Prospero Nograles appointed first-term Kalinga Rep. Manuel S. Agyao as the caretaker of the congressional post of this province which was vacated by the demise of veteran lawmaker Victor S. Dominguez last Feb. 8.

Nograles appointed Agyao even as some politicians in the province endorsed Baguio City Rep. Mauricio G. Domogan as caretaker of the vacant congressional post for over two months now.

The House Speaker stood firm on the existing rules and regulations adapted in the appointment of caretakers whereby the lawmaker with the same political affiliation and which is the closest in terms of the geographical location to the province would be named as the temporary caretaker.

Dominguez succumbed to cardiac arrest with complications of diabetes at age 72 last Feb. 8 at the Capitol Medical Center in Quezon City.

He was serving his eighth term in Congress tracing back to the Batasan Pambansa during the martial law years.

Agyao is a member of the Kabalikat ng Mamamayang Pilipino (KAMPI) in the Cordillera which was chaired by the late Mountain province lawmaker.

Read the rest here.

Coeds turn cowgirls in Masbate rodeo
By Jaymee T. Gamil / Inquirer

MASBATE CITY – At this time of the year, most “colegialas” can be found on the beach, flaunting the latest swimwear and perfecting their tans. Janice Mino and Juanita Palileng of Benguet State University (BSU), however, choose to spend the summer in Masbate’s dusty corrals, wearing denims and wrestling bulls.

For three years, Janice and Juanita have been roughing it, along with teammates from the BSU Highland Cowboys and Cowgirls, at the cattle sports events during the Rodeo Masbateño festival in Masbate City. The rodeo is a yearly event to celebrate the island-province’s “cattle country” culture.

***
This year, Janice and Juanita bagged first place in the two-person carambola women’s division. The contestants competed for the fastest time in capturing a bull with bare hands, grappling the animal down to the ground, and tying it up.

“Parang mga lalaki (They are like men),” an awed spectator exclaimed during the contest. In only a little more than a minute, the two women cornered the fleeing bull, wrestled it down, and roped its flailing legs.

Something to prove
“I wanted to show that women can be as tough as men,” Janice said, when asked why she joined the informal rodeo club in school in La Trinidad town in Benguet. Juanita was inspired by former members and was attracted at the prospect of traveling to different places to compete.

Both students consider the challenge fun. Like other athletes, members of the rodeo team physically prepare themselves with a tough regimen of weightlifting exercises, daily jogging and kickboxing. “But we practice with mechanical bulls at our school, so when we actually compete, it’s a different experience,” Janice related.

A cattle handler also needs technique rather than just brute strength, said Felimon Abelita III, president of the Rodeo Masbateño Inc. (RMI), which organized the festival. “During actual contests,” Janice said, “we go for the bull’s head. When you stranglehold the bull, its attention focuses on its head, weakening its legs and making it easier to topple down.”

But the best technique is still cooperation and teamwork, Janice and Juanita said. “Sometimes, we get competitive with our male team mates, but they admit we match them in skills. At the end of the day, we just help each other win as a team,” Janice said.

***
But Janice and Juanita, a fourth-year and fifth-year veterinary medicine students, have their own practical reasons for engaging in rodeo sports. They said they have been able to apply their rodeo skills in real life. “It comes in handy when we have to restrain large animals,” Janice pointed out.

Read the whole story here.