How Tadian Came to be

Please give due credit to the author. Do not copy-paste.
by: Felisa Daskeo

The first settlers of Tadian, Mt. Province came from a place called Dallikan, a place in Cervantes, Ilocos Sur, a province in the northern part of the Philippines. 

The story goes that Pagawad, Dallikan’s powerful leader, became abusive as a leader which led to his death.  The incident happened when a tribal war ensued and his own people abandoned him to be killed by their tribal enemies.

Pagawad’s death led most of the settlers to abandon the place, leaving behind only a few families.  The story goes on with a legendary story of people who followed the roots of a tree called “Batikang”, believed to have uprooted itself from Dallikan to protest the inhuman leadership of Pagawad.  People scattered in many places and settled in different places where they built villages of their own.  These places were soon named as;  Aganayang, Layogan. Alliboo and Baliw-ang.  The people soon moved and settled in different places now named as Sumadel, Lubon, Kayan and others.

Those with more food provisions were able to go further; this included the family of Kaldoongan ; believed to be the first family to settle in Tadian.

The story goes that Kaldoongan and a neighbor set out one day to fetch a pig in Baliw-ang.  This could only be accomplished in those early days by trekking mountains for days.   After two days of trekking slowly with the pig in tow, aggravated by the pig's condition being pregnant and about to give birth;  they decided to stop in Paliwak where they tied the pig to rest while they headed home to Tabiyo to get some food provisions. 

The next day when they returned to the place, the pig was nowhere to be seen but it left some traces that gave them a lead to follow.  They soon arrived in a spot where they found some freshly cut grasses scattered around with footprints that concluded that the pig has rested there for a night; although they spotted no pig around and they had to go on with the search.  The place was soon named “Igan” from the Igorot word “nao-igan” meaning cut grasses scattered around.

Kaldoongan and his company continued the search for the pig and soon reached a place where they found some freshly cut grasses gathered and piled together that indicated the presence of the pig in that spot.  The place was soon named “Logpop”. From the Igorot word “natotopopan”, meaning grasses gathered together.  The men were dismayed because the pig was nowhere to be seen. 

It was getting late in the afternoon and without food provision; the men decided to stop the search and go home then return the next day with additional men to continue the search.  In those early days, animals were very important to the native settlers, so it was not a surprise if they kept going back in search of just one pig.  What worried them more was that the pig could have given birth by now.

The men returned the next day in search of the lost pig and found a spot where they believed the pig settled in for the night because of a mound of freshly cut grasses and some footprints around it.  Because of the mound of grasses which they termed, “Napapatog-o”, meaning a mound, the place was soon named Patog-o.

The search was getting better.  The men knew that the pig was somewhere around and not too far from them.  They however found no pig nearby so the search went on as they followed the lead provided by the pig.

At last, they arrived at a place where water was gushing.  From the base of a big tree, water was freely flowing.  This could be the only possible place where the pig could stop if it was trying to find something for survival. The pig is wise because it looked for the right place to go and give birth.

Water from the roots of the Balite tree is still gushing up to now in DANUM.

The base of the Balite tree where the water is coming out.

The men found the pig huddled with its piglets.  It was the perfect place to build a village in that there was good supply of water.  The family of Kaldoongan soon settled in the same spot where the lost pig led them. And so goes the story of Tadian.

The place was named “Danum” meaning water.  Up to now, even during summer, Danum has water where people fetch water when water is scarce.

What is interesting is that, the settlers of Tadian, Mt. Province started with the search of a lost pig.  It was the pig that led the family of Kaldoongan to the perfect place to build a home and settle down.

Written by: Felisa Daskeo

How Tadian Came to be

Please give due credit to the author. Do not copy-paste.
by: Felisa Daskeo

The first settlers of Tadian, Mt. Province came from a place called Dallikan, a place in Cervantes, Ilocos Sur, a province in the northern part of the Philippines. 

The story goes that Pagawad, Dallikan’s powerful leader, became abusive as a leader which led to his death.  The incident happened when a tribal war ensued and his own people abandoned him to be killed by their tribal enemies.

Pagawad’s death led most of the settlers to abandon the place, leaving behind only a few families.  The story goes on with a legendary story of people who followed the roots of a tree called “Batikang”, believed to have uprooted itself from Dallikan to protest the inhuman leadership of Pagawad.  People scattered in many places and settled in different places where they built villages of their own.  These places were soon named as;  Aganayang, Layogan. Alliboo and Baliw-ang.  The people soon moved and settled in different places now named as Sumadel, Lubon, Kayan and others.

Those with more food provisions were able to go further; this included the family of Kaldoongan ; believed to be the first family to settle in Tadian.

The story goes that Kaldoongan and a neighbor set out one day to fetch a pig in Baliw-ang.  This could only be accomplished in those early days by trekking mountains for days.   After two days of trekking slowly with the pig in tow, aggravated by the pig's condition being pregnant and about to give birth;  they decided to stop in Paliwak where they tied the pig to rest while they headed home to Tabiyo to get some food provisions. 

The next day when they returned to the place, the pig was nowhere to be seen but it left some traces that gave them a lead to follow.  They soon arrived in a spot where they found some freshly cut grasses scattered around with footprints that concluded that the pig has rested there for a night; although they spotted no pig around and they had to go on with the search.  The place was soon named “Igan” from the Igorot word “nao-igan” meaning cut grasses scattered around.

Kaldoongan and his company continued the search for the pig and soon reached a place where they found some freshly cut grasses gathered and piled together that indicated the presence of the pig in that spot.  The place was soon named “Logpop”. From the Igorot word “natotopopan”, meaning grasses gathered together.  The men were dismayed because the pig was nowhere to be seen. 

It was getting late in the afternoon and without food provision; the men decided to stop the search and go home then return the next day with additional men to continue the search.  In those early days, animals were very important to the native settlers, so it was not a surprise if they kept going back in search of just one pig.  What worried them more was that the pig could have given birth by now.

The men returned the next day in search of the lost pig and found a spot where they believed the pig settled in for the night because of a mound of freshly cut grasses and some footprints around it.  Because of the mound of grasses which they termed, “Napapatog-o”, meaning a mound, the place was soon named Patog-o.

The search was getting better.  The men knew that the pig was somewhere around and not too far from them.  They however found no pig nearby so the search went on as they followed the lead provided by the pig.

At last, they arrived at a place where water was gushing.  From the base of a big tree, water was freely flowing.  This could be the only possible place where the pig could stop if it was trying to find something for survival. The pig is wise because it looked for the right place to go and give birth.

Water from the roots of the Balite tree is still gushing up to now in DANUM.

The base of the Balite tree where the water is coming out.

The men found the pig huddled with its piglets.  It was the perfect place to build a village in that there was good supply of water.  The family of Kaldoongan soon settled in the same spot where the lost pig led them. And so goes the story of Tadian.

The place was named “Danum” meaning water.  Up to now, even during summer, Danum has water where people fetch water when water is scarce.

What is interesting is that, the settlers of Tadian, Mt. Province started with the search of a lost pig.  It was the pig that led the family of Kaldoongan to the perfect place to build a home and settle down.

Written by: Felisa Daskeo

The Igorots and the Untold Stories

Please give due credit to the author. Do not copy-paste.

By: Felisa Daskeo

Most Filipinos probably do not know that a huge number of Igorots are scattered around the world. There’s a top notch lawyer out there, an engineer, an accountant, a business man, a doctor, a police general, but they don’t carry with them tags or banners to identify themselves as Igorots.

That said, I will now begin to bring you around my humble hometown nestled between tall mountains; where lawyers, engineers, accountants, high ranking policemen, doctors, teachers, nurses, midwives, abound nowadays.

Tadian, Mt. Province is a home to more or less 5000 residents. Of course, they are Igorots, except for a very few that you could count with your fingers who are from other regions in the Philippines, mostly because they have married an Igorot. 

In the year 1960s, I could still vividly remember how our elderly would exclaim happily every time an airplane was heard overhead, “Oh, that’s ___________ flying by.” I can’t remember the name of the pilot. I was still a very young girl then.  Oh, thanks goodness, someone, a kind kailyan (town mate), shared the name of our first pilot in Tadian. He was the late Victor C. Astudillo.

Now that it is 2017 and I still hear and read expletives hurled against the Igorots, aggravated with descriptions like pigs, pangit, dogyut(untidy), and ignoramus, my thoughts travel back in the 1960s when we already have a pilot in our hometown.

Let's take a break first so I can share this FB post I recently read in Facebook. 

Yeah, that maybe taken just as a joke but there is truth in those questions. Perhaps you don’t believe it but the man you see resembling a beggar maybe the owner of a multi-million-peso vegetable garden, who supplies the vegetables you eat; who drives a Montero around, who lives in a mansion but who wears no ties, no well-pressed slacks and polo shirt except for worn-out jeans, cowboy boots and a leather jacket.

If you have still time to read, click and read this anecdote of an Igorot man and see what I mean.

Back to where I started, some people think that Igorots are still way behind modern civilization. To tell you the truth, several Igorots are serving many Filipino people. There are judges out there, police superintendents, lawyers, accountants, doctors, midwives, engineers and many more who are working their butts off for the people.

In Tadian, Mt. Province, my hometown, every parent is striving hard to send the children to school. Education is necessary and getting a diploma in college is every child’s dream. 

The house below that is as big as 4 townhouses combined is where a CPA-Lawyer resides. Not content to be an accountant and a business owner, she juggled her time between her job, taking care of her thriving business and going to her law class during weekends. She successfully passed the recent bar exams and she’s now a certified lawyer and an accountant. Her accomplishment does not rest in her personal achievements alone because her 3 children are themselves achievers in their schools. They are the top students in their classrooms.

Walk a little further and you can find a humble dwelling that produced 7 smart children who are also achievers in their own field of education. The family has two judges, a nurse, a teacher, a police superintendent, a forester, and a businessman. They have gone a long way in their professions and are all on top of their careers. Two years ago, one of the members of the family was one of the top five among the graduates of PNPA (Philippine National Police Academy). There are more achievers in the family as the family grows.

These are only a few of the achievers in my hometown. This post could become a book if I mention everybody here and tell his or her story one by one. In the neighboring towns, there are countless achievers too. They are either working in the country or else deployed in other countries. 

Igorots are hard-working people and dedicated to their jobs. That’s one thing that an Igorot man or woman possesses and there is no doubt about that. What makes them shine even more is that they are frugal and know the importance of money.

It is worth noting that Igorots come in many colors and shapes just like other Filipinos. You can see them anywhere, from the farm to the corporate world, politics, showbiz, furthermore, they can be anywhere, from the freezing cold Canada to the blazing hot desert in the Middle East and they are all working hard just like many other Filipinos.

Copyright 2020 Felisa Daskeo All rights reserved.

The Igorots and the Untold Stories

Please give due credit to the author. Do not copy-paste.

By: Felisa Daskeo

Most Filipinos probably do not know that a huge number of Igorots are scattered around the world. There’s a top notch lawyer out there, an engineer, an accountant, a business man, a doctor, a police general, but they don’t carry with them tags or banners to identify themselves as Igorots.

That said, I will now begin to bring you around my humble hometown nestled between tall mountains; where lawyers, engineers, accountants, high ranking policemen, doctors, teachers, nurses, midwives, abound nowadays.

Tadian, Mt. Province is a home to more or less 5000 residents. Of course, they are Igorots, except for a very few that you could count with your fingers who are from other regions in the Philippines, mostly because they have married an Igorot. 

In the year 1960s, I could still vividly remember how our elderly would exclaim happily every time an airplane was heard overhead, “Oh, that’s Victor flying by.” Because at that time, there was already a pilot from Tadian, Mt. Province. I can’t remember the name of the pilot. I was still a very young girl then.  Oh, thanks goodness, someone, a kind kailyan (town mate), shared the name of our first pilot in Tadian. He was the late Victor C. Astudillo.

Now that it is 2022 and I still hear and read expletives hurled against the Igorots, aggravated with descriptions like pigs, pangit, dogyut(untidy), and ignoramus, my thoughts travel back in the 1960s when we already have a pilot in our hometown.

Let's take a break first so I can share this FB post I recently read in Facebook. 

Yeah, that maybe taken just as a joke but there is truth in those questions. Perhaps you don’t believe it but the man you see resembling a beggar maybe the owner of a multi-million-peso vegetable garden somewhere in the Cordillera Region; who supplies the vegetables you eat; who drives a Montero around, who lives in a mansion but who wears no ties, no well-pressed slacks and polo shirt except for worn-out jeans, cowboy boots and a leather jacket.

If you have still time to read, click and read this anecdote of an Igorot man and see what I mean.

Back to where I started, some people think that Igorots are still way behind modern civilization. To tell you the truth, several Igorots are serving many Filipino people. There are judges out there, police superintendents-even generals, lawyers, accountants, doctors, midwives, engineers and many more who are working their butts off for the Filipino people.

In Tadian, Mt. Province, my hometown, every parent is striving hard to send the children to school. Education is necessary and getting a diploma in college is every child’s dream. 

The house below that is as big as 4 townhouses combined is where a CPA-Lawyer resides. Not content to be an accountant and a business owner, she juggled her time between her job, taking care of her thriving business and going to her law class during weekends. She successfully passed the bar exams and she’s now a certified lawyer and an accountant. Her accomplishment does not rest in her personal achievements alone because her 3 children are themselves achievers in their schools. They are the top students in their classrooms.

Walk a little further and you can find a humble dwelling that produced 7 smart children who are also achievers in their own field of education. The family has two judges, a nurse, a teacher, a police superintendent, a forester, and a businessman. They have gone a long way in their professions and are all on top of their careers. A few years ago, one of the members of the family was one of the top five among the graduates of PNPA (Philippine National Police Academy). There are more achievers in the family as the family grows. The recent bar exam has added another 2 lawyers in the family.

These are only a few of the achievers in my hometown. This post could become a book if I mention everybody here and tell his or her story one by one. In the neighboring towns, there are countless achievers too. They are either working in the country or else deployed in other countries. And these are all Igorots who are often discriminated in their own country.

Igorots are hard-working people and dedicated to their jobs. That’s one thing that an Igorot man or woman possesses and there is no doubt about that. What makes them shine even more is that they are frugal and know the importance of money.

Igorots are one of the people you could trust. Just look at the taxi drivers in Baguio City who are considered the most trusted taxi drivers in the Philippines. If you hire a taxi in Baguio City, there's no need to worry how much you are going to pay because they charge fairly according to the regular rate and they don't ask for more. If you leave some valuables inside the taxi, you can rest assured that your money, cellphone or other valuables will be given back to you

It is worth noting that Igorots come in many colors and shapes just like other Filipinos. You can see them anywhere, from the farm to the corporate world, politics, showbiz, furthermore, they can be anywhere, from the freezing cold Canada to the blazing hot desert in the Middle East and they are all working hard just like many other Filipinos.

Copyright 2020 Felisa Daskeo All rights reserved.

Igorots Once Lived in a House called BINANGI

By: Felisa Daskeo

Once upon a time, the Igorots lived in a small, humble house called BINANGI.

The traditional house of the Igorots is a four-posted, thatched roofed shaped like a pyramid, one-room house. It has a floor made of thick and wide lumber that is about ten by ten foot and the lower part is usually left vacant to allow for storage of wood fuel and other materials. This house is called Binangi.

The binangi is provided with a removable ladder that serves a good purpose for the occupants to conveniently remove and replace the ladder as they leave and arrive. There is a place at the side of the house where the ladder is hanged when there is nobody home. The house is not provided with any windows or rooms so the interior is dark. There is a small hole though directly in front of the door where a speck of light passes through to slightly illuminate the interior of the house. Except for the small door, there is no other entrance. There were no locks then in those olden times and anyone could have access to the house but there were no thieves around and every house was safe even if it was left unlocked for days.

I love to reminisce those times when I was still six and one of our neighbors still lived in a binangi. The house was so dark that when you enter it, you have to squint to adjust your sight before you are able to see things around. Since the house has very limited space for playing; we weren’t allowed to play inside. We stayed instead under the house or else in the yard. I loved the binangi house because of the ladder that tickled my toes when I climbed up. Besides, we usually used the ladder like a monkey bar if we wanted to have fun. But we weren’t allowed to play in the ladder if an adult was around. Our elders were so strict then that excessive fun and noise was not allowed since it was a belief that excessive fun could have a negative requite.

Our house in those olden days has no ladders. Instead, it has stairs. We lived in a two-story house with small glass windows that had short-crocheted curtains so when it rained and lightning struck, we all gathered in the kitchen where we thought was safer for us. The windows of the kitchen were made from galvanized iron so it wasn’t transparent. I was always frightened by lightning and thunder so I would have preferred living in a binangi without windows.

Except for the main door that was  moved at the front and a few renovations, the original house that was once our house has remained.

There are some advantages of living in a binangi. Binangi is warmer during the cold season. The roof is made of thick bundles of grass which make the house warm. During summer when it is warmer, the binangi is also a more comfortable place to stay because the place is cool and very refreshing. I can still remember when I used to go up the ladder with my friend whose house is a binangi. Once inside, you could feel the cool air comfortably blanketing you. At night when you enter a binangi; the warm air is like a warm blanket and it is such a soothing thing to enjoy.

In the sixties, there were already very few binangi in my home town. Most houses were constructed using the common construction materials like lumber, galvanized iron for roofing, and even cement. I haven’t tried living in a binangi but I wish I had.

It was a beautiful house that made one felt the true essence of life. Living in a binangi makes one closer to nature and it makes one feel content in life. 

I would have stayed in my hometown and enjoyed the beauty and the serene environment of the place but I left when I finished high school and went home only after many years. Since then, I visited the place rarely; only on occasions where we need to go home. Work, time and money are the reasons why I rarely visit my hometown.

In the year 2000 when my grandmother died, I went home and found my hometown already crowded with beautiful modern houses. It was a place far different from the place I once knew. I looked around and saw no binangis standing and I was so sad to have missed taking their pictures and showing them off when they were still cared for and they were still in good condition.

Today, when I go home to my place of birth, I cannot see any binangi anymore and I miss them. In 2009 when I went home, I only saw one binangi that was abandoned and was left rotting; and that was all that I was able to picture. It is sad because no one has ever thought of preserving the binangis that were part of the Igorot culture.

What now populated my small hometown are beautifully constructed houses and the BINANGI became a history.

Lately though, the community people had constructed an exact replica of the BINANGI to preserve our culture. The house stands proudly just in front of the Tadian Municipal Hall.

The BINANGI was erected to preserve the culture. It will tell the people that once upon a time, a long, long time ago, Igorots lived in small, humble houses but not on the TREES.

These are a few of the houses that now populate my small town.

Copyright 2020 Felisa Daskeo. All rights reserved.

The Igorot House Called Binangi

by: Felisa Daskeo


The traditional house of the Igorots is a four-posted, thatched roofed, one-room house that has a roof that resembles a pyramid. It has a floor made of thick and wide lumber that is about ten by ten foot and the lower part is usually left vacant to allow for storage of wood fuel and other materials. This house is called Binangi.

The binangi is provided with a removable ladder that serves a good purpose for the occupants to conveniently remove and replace the ladder as they leave and arrive. There is a place at the side of the house where the ladder is hanged when there is nobody home. The house is not provided with any windows or rooms so the interior is dark. There is a small hole though directly in front of the door where a speck of light passes through to slightly illuminate the interior of the house. Other that the small door, there is no other entrance. There were no locks then in those olden times and anyone could have access to the house but there were no thieves around and every house was safe even if it was left unlocked for days.

I love to reminisce those times when I was still six and one of our neighbors still lived in a binangi. The house was so dark that when you enter it, you have to squint to adjust your sight before you are able to see things around. Since the house has very limited space for playing; we weren’t allowed to play inside. We stayed instead under the house or else in the yard. I loved the binangi house because of the ladder that tickled my toes when I climbed up. Besides, we usually used the ladder like a monkey bar if we wanted to have fun. But we weren’t allowed to play in the ladder if an adult was around. Our elders were so strict then that excessive fun and noise was not allowed since it was a belief that excessive fun could have a negative requite.

Our house in those olden days has no ladders. Instead, it has stairs. We lived in a two-storey house with small glass windows that had short-crocheted curtains so when it rained and lightning struck, we all gathered in the kitchen where we thought was safer for us. The windows of the kitchen were made from galvanized iron so it wasn’t transparent. I was always frightened by lightning and thunder so I would have preferred living in a binangi without windows.

There are some advantages of living in a binangi. Binangi is warmer during the cold season. The roof is made of thick bundles of grass which make the house warm. During summer when it is warmer, the binangi is also a more comfortable place to stay because the place is cool and very refreshing. I can still remember when I used to go up the ladder with my friend whose house is a binangi. Once inside, you could feel the cool air comfortably blanketing you. At night when you enter a binangi; the warm air is like a warm blanket and it is such a soothing thing to enjoy.

In the sixties, there were already very few binangi in my home town. Most houses were constructed using the common construction materials like lumber, galvanized iron for roofing, and even cement. I haven’t tried living in a binangi but I wish I had.

It was a beautiful house that made one felt the true essence of life. Living in a binangi makes one closer to nature and it makes one feel content in life. 

I would have stayed in my hometown and enjoyed the beauty and the serene environment of the place but I left when I finished high school and went home only after many years. Since then, I visited the place rarely; only on occasions where we need to go home. Work, time and money are the reasons why I rarely visit my hometown.

In the year 2000 when my grandmother died, I went home and found my hometown already crowded with beautiful modern houses. It was a place far different from the place I once knew. I looked around and saw no binangis standing and I was so sad to have missed taking their pictures and showing them off when they were still cared for and they were still in good condition.

Today, when I go home to my place of birth, I cannot see any binangi anymore and I miss them. In 2009 when I went home, I only saw one binangi that was abandoned and was left rotting; and that was all that I was able to picture. It is sad because no one has ever thought of preserving the binangis that were part of the Igorot culture.

Copyright 2020 Felisa Daskeo. Please don't copy-paste.