Tambuling Batangas Publication September 05-11, 2018 Issue | Page 5

OPINYON
September 5-11 , 2018
Imus Bandera and Bacoor Strikers:
Cavite’s pride
PROVINCE OF CAVITE
–
Basketball is like an international
language where people of all race
and nationality become one as
they root for their home team or a
favorite team of choice.

In the Philippines, it is
also a well-loved sport which you
can see in every corner alley being
played by young children or by
young adults in half courts made
from open spaces. Inter-barangay
basketball tournaments bring out
the residents to unite and support
their respective teams.

This is basically what we
see when we watch the games in
the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball
League (MPBL) where different
cities from all over the Philippines
are represented by their home
team.
Maharlika
Pilipinas
Basketball League is a regional
men’s semi-professional basketball
league in the Philippines that
was launched by Senator Manny
Pacquiao on August 29, 2017.

Initially,
the
MPBL
games were held mainly in Luzon
but plans of an expanded MPBL
had accommodated teams based in
Visayas and Mindanao. This format
has two conferences, the North and
South which is patterned from the
National Basketball Association
(NBA).

Originating from ten
(10) teams, the league now has 26
National recognition for Kalinga
tattoo master
POPULAR Kalinga traditional
manwhatok or tattooist Maria
“Whang Od” Oggay, who could be
among the last master of the age-
old but vanishing craft, was recently
honored with the Dangal ng Haraya
award, the highest recognition of the
National Commission for Culture
and the Arts (NCCA), for intangible
cultural heritage.

The NCCA recognized the
Kalinga tattooist for upholding and
promoting the traditional tattooing
practice of the Kalinga people of the
Cordillera region in northern Luzon.
The awarding ceremony was led by
NCCA chairman and National Artist
for literature Virgilio S. Almario at
the Kalinga Capitol Gymnasium in
Tabuk, Kalinga last June 25.

Whang Od is considered
among the very few remaining
tattooists of Kalinga. She “is known
for her skill and aesthetics, with a
keen knowledge on which tattoos
produce beautiful renditions.

Her
tattoos
include
traditional designs and patterns…
She would also innovate, creating
her own designs, mostly inspired by
nature and her surroundings,” the
citation revealed.
Whang Od is passionate about
preserving the tradition, insisting
on rendering tattoos the traditional
way. Unmarried and without child,
she instead passed the skill and
knowledge to her nieces, Ilyang and
Grace Palicas.

In recent years, she rose to
fame when the international media
and organizations began featuring
her.

“We in NCIP say that we
brought her out to the world, and
the world came to her, and in turn
she brought Kalinga to the world,”
Naty Sugguiyao, former provincial
officer of the National Commission
on Indigenous Peoples in province
of Kalinga, said. “Her photos were
featured in Canada, Paris and
Germany, and I was told even buses
in LA have her photos,” she said.

“Discovery Channel came
in 2007, made a documentary, and
this brought more media attention to
the body art called batok,” she said.

The show, Tattoo Hunters,
hosted by Lars Krutak, was her
debut in international media. It was
soon followed by other shows from
different countries and then by local
television stations.

Soon, local and foreign
tourists flocked to Buscalan to get
tattooed, and the streams of visitors
continue until today.
Not only the plantations

“Before Whang Od, [they]
only knew Kalinga as [a land of]
head-hunters,” Tinglayan Mayor
Sacrament Gumilab said. “Very
few people knew about Tinglayan,
except in the narcotic world. We
knew Tinglayan because of its
marijuana plantations. But Whang
Od is the one who put Tinglayan
in the map of the world. And [now]
everybody knows that there is such
an artist from Tinglayan,” she added.
Indeed, Apo Whang Od is really an
international sensation. She’s like a
Hollywood artist. To the people of
Tinglayan, Whang Od is really an
original artist. Apo Whang Od is the
one who helped bring the tourism
industry in the municipality of
Tinglayan. She is also the one who
provided livelihood to the people of
Tinglayan and of Buscalan…[They
are now] serving as tourist guides.
People have livelihoods such as
[operating] home-stay [facilities],
and the business enterprises
have grown…Last year, [for] the
Cordillera Region, Kalinga is
number two in tourist arrivals…

She’s really an epitome of
an empowered woman.

Sugguiyao said Buscalan
would receive as many as 50 tourists
a day during peak season.

The village has also
dramatically changed from a
remote and quiet community in
the mountains to a bustling tourist
pitstop.
Clamor

Whang Od is a very
charming
woman,
with
a
graciousness that reminds people of
their own grandmothers.

With the growth of her
popularity, calls for her to be awarded
began circulating, especially in
social media, by people who are
mostly tourists and observers, who
are likely non-expert in traditional
culture, much less about Kalinga
traditional tattoo practices.

Whang Od has been
considered
for
the
Gawad
Manlilikha ng Bayan, but the award
emphasizes cultural contexts of
traditional practices remain mostly
intact. As it is practised today, the
context of the Kalinga tattoo has
changed or vanished, especially
with the incursion of tourism.

Instead, Whang Od was
considered for the Dangal ng Haraya
award.
Fatok makes wave

The award citation said
the master tattooist from the village
of Buscalan in Tinglayan, Kalinga
is recognized “for the promulgation
and preservation of Butbut Kalinga
traditional tattoo known as fatok
or whatok, and engendering
greater attention and awareness
to Philippine traditional arts and
practices and intangible cultural
heritage in general.”

Her dedication to her craft
led to the intensifying of “pride not
only in the local community, but
in the nation as well, and fostering
greater recognition and reverence
for indigenous knowledge and
practices, and for Filipino culture in
general, by forging new ways in the
appreciation and understanding of
traditional tattoos.”

“Whang-Od is highly
regarded in her community, as
well as by many Filipinos and the
international community, as a master
manwhatok or tattooist, one of the
very few, if not the only, remaining
in the practice of this traditional
art.”

“Whang-Od is highly
regarded in her community, as
well as by many Filipinos and the
international community, as a master
manwhatok or tattooist, one of the
very few, if not the only, remaining
in the practice of this traditional
art.”

Almario said Apo Whang-
Od Oggay, who is believed to be
about a hundred years old, “has been
a bearer of her people’s indigenous
and rich heritage for more than 80
teams in its roster with 15 teams
from Luzon, 1 team from Visayas
and 4 teams from Mindanao.

The province of Cavite is
represented by two teams namely:
Imus Bandera and the Bacoor
Strikers.

Imus Bandera which
is also known as Imus Bandera-
GLC Trucks and Equipments is
a professional basketball team
owned by the city government
of Imus with the support of GLC
Trucks and Equipments as their
main sponsor. The team’s head
coaches are Nandy Garcia and
Jerry Codiñera.

The last team to join the
league was the Bacoor Strikers, a
15-member team composed of four
home grown talents, two imports
and PBA-pro player Marlou
Aquino.

Both cities each boasts
of home courts where games of the MPBL were held. Imus
city has their Imus City Sports
complex that could accommodate
1,000 spectators while the city of
Bacoor has its Strike Gymnasium
that accommodates 1,500 sports
fanatics.

These courts were filled
with basketball fans, young and
old alike who support their team
and give them a full home court
advantage, cheers and jeers
explode every time a score was
made sounding like boom boxes.

Team standings show
Bacoor Strikers up with 4 wins and
3 losses while Imus Bandera has
both 3 wins and 3 losses (based on
latest stats), both teams staying in
the conference to play for the team
to represent the South division.

As the saying goes, the
ball is round; it is anybody’s game
in the end. (Ruel Francisco, PIA-
Cavite)
years now.”

He added, “Starting very
young in her life, Apo Whang-Od
has stood witness to the changing
landscape of Kalinga, both in
actual topography, as influences
are flowing in from the cities, as
well as in terms of newer cultural
practices. Yet, despite all of these
changes brought by the times,
she remained and still remains
resilient, strong and dedicated to
preserving what has been taught to
her by her elders. We are here…to
honor and give recognition to what
Apo Whang-Od represents—first
and foremost to her community,
as a vessel of age-old wisdom and
artistic creation, and to the country
and the world, as a bearer of Filipino
indigenous identities, worldviews
and expressions.”

The award citation further
explains “as a living vessel of a
traditional practice, Whang-Od is
highly regarded in her community,
as well as by many Filipinos and the
international community, as a master
manwhatok or tattooist – one of the
very few, if not the only, remaining
in the practice of this traditional art.
She is recognized internationally for
her tattoos, as both Filipinos and
foreigners visit her, fascinated by
the ancient practice. With hospitality
connected to her family history, she
is always amiable and gracious,
welcoming and accommodating
villagers and visitors alike. People
of Buscalan regard Whang-Od with
respect and pride.”

Whang-Od
received
her own tattoo in her early teens.
Around that time, she also began
practising tattooing.

Early on, she was
considered the best in her village,
and eventually her reputation
reached other villages as well. Not
only that, she was also regarded as
an outstanding chanter and dancer.

The event was graced
by Sen. JV Ejercito, and Kalinga
officials, including Gov. Jocel
Baac, Vice Gov. James Edduba and
Gumilab.
Kalinga tattoos as art

Several ethnic groups in
the Cordilleras have their own tattoo
practices, including the Kalinga.
According to Sugguiyao, the fatok
“marked a man’s ability as warrior
with tattoos to indicate the rank
and power the men hold in their
community.”

“In Kalinga, tattoos were
earned only after a man had proven
his courage in battle against warring
tribes,” Sugguiyao, who herself
sports tattoos on her arms, further
said. “Scholars who have studied the tradition interpreted the practice
to show that men were given tattoos
because of brave acts during tribal
wars while the women were given
tattoos to decorate their bodies,” she
added.

The traditional tattooist
keeps an array of designs, from
simple ones to elaborate ones,
which are based on gender and
accomplishment. The tattoo is
embedded in the Kalinga way
of life as a rite of passage, as an
affirmation by the community, and
as a native concept of beauty and
aesthetics. The Kalinga believes in
the permanence of tattoos, which
one carries even in the afterlife.

Usually a paranos, a
thanksgiving ritual, is conducted
when a Kalinga would be tattooed.
But this can be dispensed for non-
Kalinga. The process uses charcoal
or soot as ink and citrus (usually
calamansi or pomelo) thorn as
needle.
To become a tattooist, one strictly
observes taboos attached to it and
know the Kalinga way of life. The
traditional manwhatok is usually
male, and very few women practise
the craft.
Dangal ng Haraya

The Dangal ng Haraya
is given to living Filipino artists,
cultural workers, artistic or
cultural groups, historical societies,
institutions,
foundations
and
councils, for their outstanding
achievements in relevant fields that
have made an impact and significant
contribution to Philippine culture
and arts. For individuals, it is usually
for a lifetime of achievements.
Through Dangal ng Haraya and
its other institutional awards,
NCCA seeks to uphold excellence
in all artistic and cultural
endeavors, encourage initiative
and participation among groups
and individuals, and recognize
exemplary cultural programs that
can serve as valuable examples to
others.

Whang-Od joins a stellar
roster of awardees, including
anthropologist
E.
Arsenio
Manuel (for cultural research);
anthropologist Dr. Jesus Peralta
(for cultural management); writer
Efren R., Abueg (for artistic
achievement in literature); Zenaida
A. Amador (for development
of professional theater); Pura
Santillan-Castrence (for promotion
of Philippine culture); Sen. Edgardo
Angara (for patronage of arts and
culture); architect Augusto Villalon
(for cultural conservation), and
anthropologist F. Landa Jocano (for
cultural and historical research).