The Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation takes note of a demolition notice dated October 1, 2020, issued by the Upper Kalinga District Engineering Office of the Cordillera Administrative Region, concerning a monument (Kalinga heroes monument) erected in 2017 along Bugnay village, in Tinglayan town of Kalinga province.
Bantayog opposes the plan to demolish this monument, which is not only a unique and distinctive work of art; it bears a deeply historical and cultural value.
The faces of Macli-ing Dulag, Pedro Dungoc and Lumbaya Gayudan, all elders of the Butbut ethnic group in Kalinga, are depicted in the monument in question. These three earned their place in our history. During the Marcos era, they dared to join and then lead a people’s resistance to a dam project that would have massively displaced thousands of residents living along the Chico River, and destroyed a precious chunk of their history and culture.
Yet the monument pays tribute not only to the three men, but to all the ethnic communities in the Cordillera that stood up for their native and civic rights. A dictator backed with the full power of his army was trying to force the project through.
Many were thrown to jail and Macli-ing himself was assassinated in his own home in Bugnay village. Still the Kalingas, Bontocs and other ethnic groups kept up their resistance and eventually prevailed.
The three are also included in the Bantayog ng mga Bayani’s roster of martyrs and heroes under the Marcos dictatorship. It is hard to find a more moving example of a David-and-Goliath tale as the story of how these mountain people defended their land and culture from the powers-that-be.
Their story gave hope to many ethnic peoples; their courage inspired many in and outside the country. The Kalinga provincial board in 2017 declared Bugnay village, on whose vicinity the monument stands, a heritage village, for its “rich historical and cultural status.” Indeed, this heroic and successful struggle partly inspired the enactment of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act of the Philippines, whose 23rd year we commemorate this month with the theme “Correcting historical injustices for indigenous peoples’ rights and welfare.”
We must also point out that the monument, envisioned and created by Cordillera artists, is a unique and precious work of art — Kalinga’s Mount Rushmore in metal and concrete — seamlessly blending into and enriching the local scenery.
We urge the government to cancel the demolition notice, and instead help protect this meaningful marker and assist the villagers in a dialogue to rekindle the unity their elders had given their lives for.
The foundation also requests a statement of support from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and the Human Rights Violations Victims Memorial Commission (HRVVMC).
Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, Inc.
Executive Committee with Chairperson Wigberto E. Tañada
October 20, 2020
