Ifugaos urged to preserve native houses

BANAUE, Ifugao - Until now, Smith Ordillo takes good care of their family’s native Ifugao house passed on to them by their ancestors.

“Doon kami nagsimula. Doon namin nakikita memories ng mga magulang namin at doon namin nakikita kung gaano kahirap ang buhay noon,” Ordillo said.

(That's where we started. That's where we memories of our parents and how difficult life was back then.)

The native Ifugao house called “Bale” is commonly seen in Ifugao.

It has three levels. The "cha-ulon," or the space under the house where the family hold their rituals; the second level is the "unig," where they cook, eat, and sleep; the third one, the "palan," is where they keep their rice.

Usually, they also put a bulul or rice god in the palan to protect the harvest.

However, most Ifugao families no longer live in bales anymore.

This is because it only has one room which is too small for a big family, and the cogon (grass) used for its roof is hard to maintain.

Modern families now prefer to live in modern houses.

To protect the rich heritage of the native Ifugao house, residents are being encouraged to preserve them.

“We have a cultural code regarding the preservation of the Ifugao native house, which is saying that we should strengthen and encourage people to still preserve these houses because primarily, these are one of the things that identify us from other races,” according to the head of the Ifugao Cultural Heritage Office, William Mamanglo.

He added that if families will build new houses, they are encouraged to adapt the design of the bale with pyramid-type roofs and paint the roof brown or green.

Julie Talacca’s family once lived in a bale but decided to build a new house when their clan grew bigger.

Though modern, they made sure it still looked like the traditional bale. From its shape to the colors they chose, they wanted to preserve the old style of their original house.

“Para po hindi namin makalimutan ang kultura ng Ifugao na native house,”she said.

(This is so that we will not forget the culture of the native Ifugao.)

Mamanglo added that they cannot “ force people to just preserve their native houses.”

“We are just encouraging ang mga kababayan natin sa Ifugao kung pwede sana ipreserve natin itong mga ganitong bagay na na-inherit natin sa mga ninuno natin,” he said.

The local government hopes that native houses will be preserved so they can be seen by future generations.

Even Ma. Blossom Varnell, a tourist, wants native Ifugao houses preserved.

“Unang-una, rooted tayo sa pinanggalingan natin. Pangalawa, mahalaga kasi iyon eh, bahagi ng kasaysayan natin bilang Pilipino. At pangatlo, mahalaga iyon kasi kailangang ipagmalaki natin kung saan tayo nagmula,” aniya.

(First, we are rooted in our hometown. Second, that is an important part of Philippine history. And third, it is important for us to celebrate our roots.)