...the Cordilleras

Lifestyles of the Cordillera region

 

Baguio’s Tam-awan Village is a refuge for the abandoned traditional houses of Cordillera

 

 

By DENNIS LADAW

February 22, 2011

 

Many of the huts in Tam-awan were found abandoned at their original addesses in Mountain Province and Kalinga.

(Photo by NOEL B. PABALATE)

MANILA, Philippines - Baguio City folk are fortunate to have such beautiful and iconic parks in their midst.  The city’s main attractions such as Wright Park and Burnham Park, among others, are still very popular, especially with tourists.  A newer park is also gaining attention from travelers. It’s called the Tam-awan Village. It’s not as accessible as the other parks mentioned-- it’s located in a residential area situated off Naguillan Road. Rest assured it’s worth the trouble to drive over and see what it has to offer.

Tam-awan is the Ibalong term for “vantage point.” It’s just the perfect name for this park as it happens to be located on top of a hill where the view of the city is panoramic. On a clear day, guests could see the South China Sea off the coast of La Union province.

As it happens, the people who run the park established Tan-awan because of the mall culture that now pervades in Baguio. Its residents have become certified mall rats, what with the huge crowds flocking to the local SM Mall all day. “Today’s generation of Ifugaos and Igorots want to live in the city and live the modern life. They’re forgetting about their heritage,” says artist and photographer Chit Asignacion. Asignacion’s point was proven correct when a guest, a 30 year-old accountant who was born and raised in Baguio, admitted it was his first time to visit Tam-awan.

Asignacion is vice president of the Chanum Foundation, which established, built, and runs Tam-awan Village.  He and fellow artists Ben Cabrera and Jordan Mang-Osan formed the foundation with the hope of preserving the rich but dying heritage of the Cordilleras.  This includes saving the Cordillera huts. To provide a venue for the houses, the foundation acquired a 2.5 hectare property in Baguio. A former cattle ranch, it was converted into the village they christened Tam-awan. The village gates were opened in the 1990s.

Tam-awan once had at least 20 of these huts on display. “They are genuine huts,” says Asignacion. “We found them abandoned by their original dwellers in various parts of Mountain Province, Kalinga, and Ifugao.

What we do in the foundation is rescue these huts before they deteriorate any further. We ask permission from the tribes that own them, of course. Some of the houses had to be restored with new cogon roofs.”

Unfortunately, six of the huts on display in the village were permanently damaged by the typhoon Peping in 2009. The foundation chose not to rebuild the huts. Asignacion explains: “It’s a custom for the Ifugaos not to rebuild a destroyed house, as it would offend the god Kabunyan. So instead, we recycled the wood from the razed huts and used them to build new tables and chairs for the coffee shop.”

The building that houses the coffee shop was once a three-storey Ifugao house built in 1975.  Asignacion had the house extended to make room for the kitchen. It also serves as a gallery where paintings being sold are on display.

Although six of the huts proved to be vulnerable to the raging winds of typhoon Peping, Asignacion says the Cordillera huts are very durable, especially during earthquakes.  “They’re made of solid wood,” he says.  “Ifugao huts are mostly made of narra and molave. Pine wood is used for the huts in Benguet and Kalinga.”

He notes the Ifugao house can “be deceptively simple and yet it boasts of sophisticated architecture.”  It is built without nails or hardware and “exemplifies the exactness of Ifugao construction.” The houses with periodic reroofing can last for generations.

The surviving huts serve as a representation of sort, of the various customs and rituals being practiced by the tribes of the Cordilleras. For instance, the Dukligan hut serves as fertility hut for married couples who couldn’t conceive. They live in the hut for a month and if still they can’t conceive, both the husband and wife are permitted to dally with other partners. They remain married, however. This sort of open marriage is just a procedure for them to find out who among the two has the "plumbing problems."

Near the entrance is the Dap-ay hut, which is sort of a house designed to accommodate stag gatherings in the Mountain Province. Women aren’t invited to this house, though the men from the other provinces are more open to having the ladies enter the Dap-ay.

Bigger, more modern huts are available to accommodate visitors who might want to stay the night in the village.  Asignacion says the guest huts are a major source of income for the village. Also, the foundation raises funds by selling the artworks on display in the guest huts and the coffee shop. Art workshops are held regularly in various parts of the village.  In fact, the place is marking the heritage month of May by holding free art workshops from May 19 to 22.

This eclectic mix of art and ancient, ethnic cultures has made Tam-awan Village a unique place to visit and experience. It not only recreates a village from the Cordilleras, it offers visitors the chance to behold a colorful and nearly extinct world, right within the modern, bustling city of Baguio.

For inquiries about Tam-awan Village, visit the website http://www.tam-awanvillage.com/.