Political Life and Control
It is impossible to put one’s hand on any one man or any one group of men in Bontoc pueblo of whom it may be said, “Here is the control element of the pueblo.”
Nowhere has the Malayan attained national organization. He is known in the Philippines as a “provincial,” but in most districts he is not even that. The Bontoc Igorot has not even a clan organization, to say nothing of a tribal organization. I fail to find a trace of matriarchy or patriarchy, or any mark of a kinship group which traces relationship farther than first cousins.
The Spaniard created a “presidente” and a “vice-presidente” for the various pueblos he sought to control, but these men, as often Ilokano as Igorot, were the avenue of Spanish approach to the natives—they were almost never the natives’ mouthpiece. The influence of such officials was not at all of the nature to create or foster the feeling of political unity.
Aside from these two pueblo officers the government and control of the pueblo is purely aboriginal. Each ato, of which, as has been noted, there are seventeen, has its group of old men called “ĭn-tug-tu′-kan.” This ĭn-tug-tu′-kan is not an organization, except that it is intended to be perpetual, and, in a measure, self-perpetuating. It is a thoroughly democratic group of men, since it is composed of all the old men in the ato, no matter how wise or foolish, rich or poor—no matter what the man’s social standing may be. Again, it is democratic—the simplest democracy—in that is has no elective organization, no headmen, no superiors or inferiors whose status in the ĭn-tug-tu′-kan is determined by the members of the group. The feature of self-perpetuation displays itself in that it decides when the various men of the ato become am-a′-ma, “old men,” and therefore members of the ĭn-tug-tu′-kan. A person is told some day to come and counsel with the ĭn-tug-tu′-kan, and thenceforth he is a member of the group.
In all matters with which the ĭn-tug-tu′-kan deals it is supreme in its ato, but in the ato only; hence the opening statement of the chapter that no man or group of men holds the control of the pueblo. The life of the several ato has been so similar for such a number of generations that, in matters of general interest, the thoughts of one ĭn-tug-tu′-kan will be practically those of all others. For instance, there are eight ceremonial occasions on which the entire pueblo rests from agricultural labors, simply because each ato observes the same ceremonials on identical days. In one of these ceremonials, all the men of the entire pueblo have a rock contest with all the men of Samoki. Again, when a person of the pueblo has been killed by another pueblo treacherously or in ambush, or in any way except by fair fight, the pueblo as a unit hastens to avenge the death on the pueblo of the slayer.
In such matters as these—matters of common defense and offense, matters of religion wherein food supply is concerned—custom has long since crystallized into an act of democratic unity what may once have been the result of the councils of all the ĭn-tug-tu′-kan of the pueblo. It is customary for an ato to rest from agricultural labor on the funeral day of any adult man, but the entire pueblo thus seeks to honor at his death the man who was old and influential.
There is little differentiation of the functions of the ĭn-tug-tu′-kan. It hears, reviews, and judges the individual disagreements of the members of the ato and makes laws by determining custom. It also executes its judgments or sees that they are executed. It makes treaties of peace, sends and accepts or rejects challenges of war for its ato. In case of interato disagreements of individuals the two ĭn-tug-tu′-kan meet and counsel together, representing the interests of the persons of their ato. In other words, the pueblo is a federation made up of seventeen geographical and political units, in each of which the members recognize that their sanest, ripest wisdom dwells with the men who have had the longest experience in life; and the group of old men—sometimes only one man and sometimes a dozen—is known as ĭn-tug-tu′-kan, and its wisdom is respected to the degree that it is regularly sought and is accepted as final judgment, being seldom ignored or dishonored. In matters of a common interest the pueblo customarily acts as a unit. Probably could it not so act, factions would result causing separation from the federation. This state of things is hinted as one of the causes why the ancestors of present Samoki separated from the pueblo of Bontoc. The fact that they did separate is common knowledge, and a cause frequently assigned is lack of space to develop. However, there may have been disagreement.