THE 8TH ICBE CONSULTATION IN VIENNA Workshop Group #4 Report (Friday, 14 August 2015)

Friday, August 14, 2015

    After the early breakfast at around 9:30 am, we started the activities for the day with the general knowledge of the absence of delegates from Ifugao State University (IFSU). There were parts of the program that was improvised because of this.

   Mr. Pablo Laoyan Jr. was the moderator and we started with selling raffle tickets from the delegates of Como, Italy for their upcoming Grand Kanyaw. The magazine, “Cordillera Rituals As a Way of Life” was also promoted.

   Mr. Rick Kilongan from Switzerland rendered a song. After that, Mrs. Marjorie Abeya-Soaygan introduced the new comers: Mrs. Baldo and their three adorable daughters. Later on, Mr. Pablo Laoyan Jr. read the Keynote Address of Dr. Serafin L. Ngohayon entitled “Ifugao: Its People, A World Heritage Site and the Hudhud.”

   Mrs. Xaverine F. Valentine of Igorot UK introduced the resource person, Dr. Vicky Madangeng. Her talk was read by Mrs. Herminia Teh-op, which was about the Ifugao Dances Context, Symbols and Meanings.

At 10 o’clock in the morning we had a 30 minute break.

   Miss Amorsola Gayuchan of Cordillera Migrant Workers Association (CMWA) of Milan and Como, Italy was supposed to introduce Engr. Loinaz Dulawan. This was cancelled together with his topic on “Science and Technology Based Farming System for Climate change Mitigation and Adaptation” (Paper by: Serafin L. Ngohayon, Loinaz Dulawan, Nathaniel F. Dimog and Eric Bimmoy).

Mrs. Grace Nabus of Igorot UK introduced the different speakers :

    HILDA BOUNGGICK-ALINGCAO (Austria)

   CHICO GUERRERO BELEN TAGUBA (Netherlands)

   AVERIL POOTEN-WATAN (United Kingdom) (her husband Mark Sapaen Watan read her speech)

I will try to briefly summarize the talk of Chico and Averil and Maura Bubod will tackle the speech of Hilda and the rest of the activity during the morning event of August 14, 2015.

= Chico said he was three years old when he moved to the Netherlands, spoke English at home, but Dutch with his siblings and at school. He grew up in a multicultural community thus having friends of different nationalities. But during his elementary years he spent it in a “white” school and even at a young age he already experienced racism because of the color of his skin. After elementary he finished his high school in a coloured or a multicultural school because his brother is studying there. During this period, he decided where to integrate, to choose the friends, communities to be part of a community who not only cherish their heritage but try to preserve it from physical as well as cultural damage.

He has this message at the end of his talk that captivated my attention and it goes like this: You choose where you integrate into and that choice will determine which experiences you will have, my experiences are mine alone, but I hope you will integrate yourself into communities where we will meet each other again.