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The Country and its People / People / Other Cultural Minorities / Ilongot

Number: 29,000

Region: in the Caraballo and Sierra Madre ranges at the boundary of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Viscaya provinces in north eastern Luzon

Physical Features: less than five feet tall, with fair complexion

Religion: Animism; they worship anitos and believe in the existence of many gods

Integration: Ilongots are one of the least integrated minorities. They interact with the low land people only during market days when they sell their wares.

Community: The community is headed by a chief called the "tagangangat" who rules for life.

Traditional Forms of Settlement: Along rivers and streams in scattered communities composed of about a dozen families each. Their normal houses are small shacks fashioned out of bamboo, wood and rattan but some live in improvised shelters in treetops. Most of their houses are covered by thick bushes, camouflaged and protected by fallen trees and thorny branches of bamboo.

Technological Level: Only very few of the most basic appliances and consumer items are used by them.

Education: Very few Ilongots have finished school.

Employment: Ilongots are fishers and hunters. Only a few are employed as farm tenants.

Traditional Practices:

Tree traveling - by using rattan rope hooked from one tree branch to another as a bridge

Head-hunting which used to start when the fire trees began to bloom in the months of May, June, July, August and September. They regarded headhunting as their noblest custom. It used to be a status symbol for them, their gauge for the attainment of manhood. Head-hunting was carried out for one of two reasons: during weddings, as at least one head was expected to be presented to the future father-in-law; and on the event of a death in the family caused by another person, as a means of retaliation. The Ilongots entered into peace pacts among their communities sponsored by the government at different dates since 1902. But it was only early in 1968, that they abandoned the old practice of head-hunting.

Traditional Mode of Dress: Men wear a G-string of woven rattan or a brass wire called "cagit", wrapped around the waist. A piece of bark cloth called "gabed" is passed between the legs and secured in front and back by a string belt to cover their privates. Women wear "agde", a piece of cloth made of soft bark which covers their body from waist down to the knees leaving their bosoms exposed.

Traditional Adornments: Bead necklaces, earrings and spirals of brass wire placed around their arms. Ilongot braves wear earrings on the upper lobes of their ears. The number of punctures in their ears represents the number of people they have killed. Professional head-hunters carried small bells tied on their waist.

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However, a high health risk is posed by the increased use of potent active substances, mixtures thereof, and the rising number of active substances in adulterated herbal aphrodisiacs that have no known safety or toxicological profile (analogs). Consumers can not be certain of any of these products as to their pharmacological and toxicological safety.