VIDEO REPORT IN EL109

Lilia Quindoza Santiago [1949-2021], LQS to friends, was an award-winning writer, teacher, anthologist, literary critic,
translator, and interpreter, known for her outstanding research on Philippine languages [Ilokano and Tagalog],
Southeast Asian studies, popular cultures, gender and sexuality, and literature. She was born on 5 February 1949 in
Manaoag, Pangasinan, but grew up in Baguio, and went to Baguio City National High School. In 1972, when the
Philippines was placed under martial law by Ferdinand Marcos, she was one of the student activists rounded up,
arrested, placed in detention centers, and tortured by the military.

She taught for over thirty years at the University of the Philippines, where she was Full Professor and Associate for
Fiction at the Likhaan: Sentro ng Malikhaing Pagsulat. After retirement from the UP, she taught nine years at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she was Assistant Professor of Ilokano at the Department of Indo Pacific
Languages and Literatures.

She was chosen Makata ng Taon of 1989 by the Surian ng Wikang Pambansa [now the Komisyon sa Wikang
Filipino] on the basis of her poem “Sa Ngalan ng Ina, ng Anak, ng Diwata’t Paraluman.” She authored over 20 books,
including her poetry collections Kagampan [Kalikasan Press, 1989] and Asintada [University of the Philippines Press,
1997] an her short story collection Ang Manggagamot ng Salay-Salay at Iba Pang Kuwento [Kalikasan Press, 1989].
She also authored the novel Ang Kaulayaw ng Agila [University of the Philippines Press, 2002], which won the Grand
Prize at the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature in 1999. In 2004, she won the Gawad Balagtas from
the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas [UMPIL] and was recipient of the Outstanding Professional Service Award
from the U.P. Alumni Association.

She also authored and edited Filipina I: Poetry, Drama, Fiction [New Day Publishers, 1984] and Filipina II: An
Anthology of Contemporary Women Writers in the Philippines [New Day Publishers, 1985], both co-edited with Mila
Astorga Garcia and Marra PL. Lanot, Synthesis, Before and Beyond February 1986: The Edgar M. Jopson Memorial
Lectures [Edgar M. Jopson Memorial Foundation, 1986], Synthesis 2: Where Has All the Power Gone?
[ Interdisciplinary Forum, 1988, co-edited with Manuel F. Montes], Dahil sa Butil ng Palay: Ang Pasyon ni Jaime
Tadeo at ng Magbubukid na Pilipino [Philippine Peasant Institute, 1992], Women Empowering Communication: A
Resource Book on Women and the Globalization of Media [Isis International, 1994, co-edited with Margaret
Gallagher], Mga Idea at Estilo: Komposisyong Pangkolehiyo sa Wikang Filipino [University of the Philippines Press,
1995], Ang Aklat Likhaan ng Tula at Maikling Kuwento 1995 [Likhaan, University of the Philippines, 1996], Tales of
Courage & Compassion: Stories of Women in the Philippine Revolution [HASIK Inc., 1997], Sa Ngalan ng Ina:
Sandaang Taon ng Tulang Feminista sa Pilipinas, 1889-1989 [University of the Philippines Press, 1997], In the Name
of the Mother: 100 Years of Philippine Feminist poetry, 1889-1989 [University of the Philippines Press, 2002], Mga
Panitikan ng Pilipinas [C & E Publishing, 2007], Sexuality and the Filipina [University of the Philippines Press, 2007],
and Filipino Poetry and Martial Law 1970-1987: Clenched Fists and Yellow Ribbons [Edwin Mellen Press, 2016].

In 2005, she was Fulbright Visiting Professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Since 2018, she also
taught at Tidewater Community College in Norfolk, where she was adjunct professor of English. She was also a
contributing writer for Hawaii Filipino Chronicle.

Her work was always geared towards achieving social engagement and peace. She once wrote: "One of the most
powerful weapons that enable people to build peace is the imagination. It is the imagination that creatively charts a
new way of doing things, a new order. In the most solitary confines of detention when I had only the wall and the self
to talk with, I fought desolation by keeping my mind at work. I imagined and wrote several stories to and of myself. I
was re-inventing myself and began to discover there were other selves other than the one that was with me. Those
other selves were not as bitter and resentful, even as they were rebellious and free. Those other selves I imagined
were better persons because they were not as shackled and restricted and repressed as I was. The imagination and
desire to be free led me to write poetry."

Si LILIA QUINDOZA SANTIAGO ay naging “Makata ng Taon” ng 1989 sa bisa ng kanyang tulang “Sa Ngalan ng Ina,
ng Anak, ng Diwata’t Paraluman.” Premyado din ang kanyang mga koleksiyon ng tula: ang “Dung-aw at iba pang
tula” (1977), “Ordinaryo” (1990), at “Mga Larawang Pisikal” (1995). Ang mga tulang ito ay kasama sa dalawang aklat
ng tula na nalimbag na, ang Kagampan (Pregnant, Kalikasan Press, 1989) at Asintada (U.P. Press, 1997).
Kuwentista rin siya at may koleksiyon ng maikling katha, Ang Manggagamot ng Salay-Salay at iba pang
kuwento (Kalikasan Press, 1989) at editor ng iba’t ibang libro at mga sulatin. Ang kanyang nobelang “Ang Kaulayaw
ng Aguila” ay nagwagi ng Grand Prize sa nobelang Filipino sa Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.

Si LQS ay anak nina Victorino Quindoza ng Sta. Cruz, Marinduque at Buena Cadanilla ng Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, at
kabiyak ng makata-mang-aawit na si Jesus Manuel Santiago, ina ng apat na anak na sina Haya Pag-asa, Halina
Mandala, Balagtas Himigbayan at Daniw Plaridel. Ipinanganak sa Manaoag, Pangasinan ngunit lumaki at nag-aral sa
Lungsod ng Baguio, napagsasanib niya sa kanyang mga sulatin ang usapin ng kababaihan kaugnay ng mga
katutubo, mga taga-Iloko at iba pang etnolinggwistikong grupo sa Pilipinas. Nagturo siya ng panitikang Pilipino at
malikhaing pagsulat sa U.P., at naging Associate for Fiction sa Likhaan: Sentro ng Malikhaing Pagsulat, U.P. Diliman,
Quezon City.

Noong 2004, pinagkalooban siya ng GAWAD Balagtas ng Unyon ng  mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) at
nagkamit din siya ng Outstanding Professional Service Award mula sa U.P. Alumni Association. Noong 2005, naging
Fulbright Visiting Professor siya sa Old Dominion University (ODU) sa Norfolk, Virginia U.S.A.

Siya ay naka-base ngayon sa Hawaii, U.S.A.

LILIA QUINDOZA-SANTIAGO Ph. D., Philippine Studies, University of the Philippines, 1991

Works.
Poetry. Kagampan, 1989; Asintada, 1997
Fiction. Ang Manggagamot ng Salay-Salay, 1995 Literary Criticism. Mga Idea at Estilo, 1995; Sa Ngalan ng Ina, 1997
Biography/Nonfiction. Dahil Sa Butil ng Palay: Si Jaime Tadeo at ang Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, 1992; Tales
of Courage and Compassion: Stories of Women In the Philippine Revolution, 1997
Libretto. Andres, staged by the Philippine Ballet Theatre (PBT), 1996, 1997; Josefa Llanes Escoda,Girl Scouts of the
Philippines, 1998.
Awards. National Centennial Commission-Women's Sector, Gawad Chancellor U.P. Diliman, Urian, Palanca,
Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, Surian, CCP.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people in the Philippines have a distinctive culture[vague] in

society and also have limited legal rights. Gays and lesbians are generally tolerated (if not accepted) in Filipino
society.[citation needed] Despite recent events that have promoted the rights, general acceptance, and empowerment of the
Filipino LGBT community, discrimination remains. Homosexuals in the Philippines are known as "bakla", though there
exist other terms to describe them.[citation needed] Similarly, Filipino lesbians are generally known as Alfa.[citation needed]
According to the 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey, 11 percent of sexually active Filipinos between the
ages of 15 and 24 have had sex with someone of the same sex.[2] According to Filipino poet and critic Lilia Quindoza
Santiago, Filipino culture may have a more flexible concept of gender; kasarian (Tagalog for "gender") is defined in
less binary terms than the English word;[3] kasarian means "kind, species, or genus".[4]

ANG PAGIGING BABAE Lilia Quindoza Santiago

Lilia Quindoza Santiago • Writer and editor • Her works focus on feminism in the lives of the indigenous people, the
Ilocanos, and other ethno-linguistic groups in the Philippines. • She used to teach Philippine literature and Creative
Writing at the University of the Philippines. • She is also an associate for fiction in the Institute of Creative Writing in
U.P. Diliman. • At present, she is an assistant professor of Ilokano language and literature at the University of Hawai'i
at Mānoa.

Ayaw kong isumpa ang pagiging babae Sa panahong ito, kabarong makata, Kahit pa sugatan ang lahat ng sulok Ng
puso ko't kaluluwa. Ayaw kong isuko ang kayariang Ako rin ang bumubuo. Di ko ipamimigay Ang mumunting butil ng
diwang Ako rin ang bumubihay.

Totoong "kasumpa-sumpa Ang maging babae sa panahong ito" Kung panatag nating aakuin Ang hinulmang
pagkatao Sa mga nagdaang siglo Nang walang pagtangi sa sarili O walang pagsalungat sa pang-aapi.

Ngunit ang ganang akin Ang pagkababae'y marami pang kahulugan Bukod sa pagtutol sa kostumbre't kaugalian.
Ang pagiging babae'y pagkatha Ng mga tulang di pa nalilikha; Ang pagiging babae'y pag-awit Ng awiting di pa
naririnig; Ang pagiging babae'y pagtuklas Ng daigdig na di pa natutuklasan;
Ang pagiging babae'y paghubog Ng mundong hindi pa nabubuo; Ang pagiging babae'y pagluwal Ng buhay na hindi
nararanasan.

Ngunit higit sa lahat, ang pagiging babae'y Higit pa sa lahat ng ito Na tayong kababaihan lamang bilang tao Ang
tanging makatatanto.

Obituary
Dr. Lilia Quindoza-Santiago, “LQS” to friends and colleagues, “Nani” to her children and grandchildren, was born in
Manaoag, Pangasinan on February 5, 1949. She grew up in Baguio City, went to Baguio City Highschool, and
became an AFS Scholar in the year 1966-1967. She obtained her B.A. in English (cum laude) in 1971, MA in
Comparative Literature, 1980 and a Ph.D. in Philippine Studies, 1990 from the University of the Philippines. She was
a member of the Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society.

LQS was a full-blooded educator. To say that teaching was her passion is an understatement. She was a Full
Professor at the University of the Philippines (UP) where she taught for over thirty years. In UP, she was also an
Associate for Fiction at the Likhaan: Sentro ng Malikhaing Pagsulat (Creative Writing Center). In 2005, she was
Fulbright Visiting Professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Upon retirement from UP, she taught at
the University of Hawaii (UH) Manoa where she was Assistant Professor of Ilokano at the Department of Indo Pacific
Languages and Literatures and handled all levels of Ilokano language courses as well as literatures and Philippine
drama. She retired from UH Manoa in 2016 but resumed teaching in 2018 as an Adjunct Professor of English at
Tidewater Community College in Norfolk, Virginia. As a teacher, she went above and beyond the confines of the
classroom. Her all-out support would go as far as bringing a student to the printing press herself so the student could
publish his first book, or generously writing beautiful verses for a student’s first short film. Students were transformed
from being mere pupils to being loyal adoring fans, with some even turning into second daughters/sons whom she
welcomed inside her house anytime.
LQS was a prolific and versatile writer who mastered multiple literary forms. Her works had bagged Grand Prizes
across diverse categories in different award giving bodies, among which is the most prestigious literature award
giving body in the Philippines – the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. Her portfolio of works include
Sa Ngalan ng Ina, Ng Anak ng Diwata’t Paraluman. (In the Name of the Mother, the Child, the Diwata and
Paraluman) for which she won Makata ng Taon (Poet of the Year) in 1989 a distinction given by the Surian ng
Wikang Pambansa [now the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino], Kaulayaw ng Agila (Eagle’s Lover) a novel which won the
Palanca Grand Prize for the novel in Filipino in 1999, Bayanggudaw (Wanderer) her Tagalog short story which won
the Palanca Grand prize in 2013. Sounds of the Earth, a story in English also won first prize in the Philippines Free
Press literary awards of 2006.

LQS authored, edited, co-edited and written many books among them are In the Name of the Mother: 100 Years of
Philippine Feminist Poetry (UP Press, 2002), Sexuality and the Filipina (UP Press, 2007), Mga Panitikan ng Pilipinas
(Literatures of the Philippines, C & E Publishing, 2007) Kagampan (Pregnant) Poetry in Filipino with English
translations (Kalikasan Press, 1989); Ang Manggagamot ng Salay-Salay at Iba Pang Kuwento her short story
collection [Kalikasan Press, 1989]; Tales of Courage and Compassion: Women in the Philippine Revolution (Hasik,
1996) and Filipino Poetry and Martial Law 1970-1987: Clenched Fists and Yellow Ribbons [Edwin Mellen Press,
2016]. Two of her books, Sa Ngalan ng Ina (1997) (In the Name of the Mother) and Asintada (1997) (Sharp Memory)
won recognition in 2008 as two of the best 100 books published by UP Press in the last 100 years.

LQS was honored as an Outstanding Alumni for Professional Service in Arts and Letters by the University of the
Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA, 2004) and given a Plaque of recognition for her lifetime achievement in
Philippine letters by the UMPIL (Unyon ng Manunulat na Pilipino or Union of Filipino Writers) and the Maria Paz
Mendoza Guazon award for outstanding woman in arts and letters.

LQS was predeceased by her mother Buena C. Quindoza, father Victorino M. Quindoza Sr., older sister Priscilla Q.
Asarias and niece Alana Joy “Lani” Q. Asarias. She is survived by her husband of 43 years, Jesus Manuel Santiago,
daughter Haya Pag-asa and husband Joel Florendo, daughter Halina Mandala and partner Lipa, son Balagtas
Himigbayan and wife Mia Dela Cruz Santiago, son Daniw Plaridel and partner Jackie Alejandro, brother in-law Joe
Asarias, sister Rebecca and husband John Obcemane, brother Victorino (Cesar) and wife Linda Quindoza, brother
Gerry and wife Jennifer Quindoza, grandchildren Elaya Sarita Yzobelle and Elyana Ashia Florendo, Kyrene Agatha
and Kyrene Anika Santiago, and many nieces and nephews whom she cared for as her own.

Through her long list of awards and accomplishments, LQS was simply Nani to her children and grandchildren. She
was such a caring and loving matriarch of the Quindoza-Santiago brood. Her chicken arrozcaldo and seafood kare-
kare would be sorely missed.
During her UH Manoa retirement speech in 2016 she said: "Kanayon a nakalukat dagiti dalan ti wayawaya ken ayat."
The roads of freedom and love are always open. Indeed, as she journeys her way through eternal life, all of us who
were left behind, shall always have those roads she paved for us to marvel and remember.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 20th, 2pm at the Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home, Kempsville
Chapel.

Her ashes shall be brought back to the Philippines where a small celebration of her life would be held on March 8th,
International Women’s Day, as a tribute to the phenomenal woman that she was and will always be in the hearts and
minds of those whose lives she touched.

PagPuPugay at pagkilala kay LQS - Naging kawani ng kumite ng Public

Information
Makabuluhang buhay - Visions and Counter Visions – “ We have
learned to transform reveries and
Respected professore
daydream into visions” Visioning is
Prolific writer always creative exercise.
- LQS – Last Quarter Storm
Magiting na feminista at aktibista - 20 books about women and society
- She believes that writing confronting
Pakikibaka sa minimithing pagkakapantay
about the issue of sexuality is important
Interest at Karapatan ng kababaihan and the oppressive treatment is genders
in our contemporary society.
LQS mas kilala
HIGH SCHOOL
Makata, mananaliksik, guro
- Went to BAGUIO IN 1962
36 years in UP - One over 350 GRADUATES
- Writer of the year
Retired, Ilocano studies, University if Hadii in - Graduated 1966
Manoa – 9 yrs.
College
Tide Water Community College
- English MAJOR
Panitiikan ng Pilipinas - President of Club
- FQS first quarter storm– initial known to
Sa Ngalan Ng Ina (1997), by prize-winning poet-critic
many of us who survived the critical
Lilia Quindoza Santiago, is, to date, the most
years of ph history
comprehensive compilation of feminist writing in the
- Made a difference
Philippines.
- Engaged in activities of Kabataang
Nagturo rin sa UP Baguio makabayan
- Malayang kilusan ng bagong kababaihan
- Lumaki sa baguio -
- Dona Aurora Elementary School - A FEMINIST FICTION WRITER POINTS
- Baguio City High School OUT ‘ the media
- UP College in Baguio - Research and translated “Panulaan ng
- 1971 graduate , Bachelor of Arts mga kababaihan” English, tagalog,
Comparative Literature, Cum Laude Ilocano
- Teach- Former Up College of Baguio - Ang isa makata nagsimula sa reklamo ng
-Instructor 1 – 1975 reklamo, meron tayong dapat
- Instructor 3 – 1977 – 1981 ipagreklamo at dapat ipaghimagsik, pero
- Lumipat sa Departamento ng Filipino at tapos na tyo roon, ibig sabihin, weve
PANITIKanng pilipinas sa UP Diliman made our point. Kung talagang ganito
 ang buhay ng babae, mula noon,
hanggagang ngayon, saan tayo patungo?
PANO natin mapapaganda ang mundo
ngayong narito na tayo. Ngayon, kit ana
natin ang lahat, kita na natin ang
kabuuan. Tama na ang pagkaawa sa
sarili, dapat humakbang naman doon.
Dapat humantonng naman
sapagtatanghal sa sarili, ng pagkababae.
Maramu na sigurong kabataang babae
ngayon na gumagawa nito. – from
sarilaysay, tinig ng dalawangpung babae
sa sariling danas bilang manunulat.
“Sa Ngalan ng Ina/In the Name of the Mother: 100
Years of Feminist Poetry”
This book was edited by poet Lilia Quindoza-
Santiago. “It is the first collection of Philippine poetry
by women of this scale and magnitude, beginning in
1889 up to the country's centennial celebration,” says
Faye Cura. “Containing scholarly texts on the
women's movement and feminist poetry, it exposes
women's participation in the grand project or ideal of
‘nation-building’ or ‘writing the nation.’ Super cool too
because it unequivocally declares itself as a feminist
collection.”
A writer forged by the flames of martial law
Lilia Quindoza Santiago, passionate teacher of
language and activist mentor, dies Feb. 16 at age 72
Read more: https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/379533/a-
writer-forged-by-the-flames-of-martial-
law/#ixzz6rskfwp9U
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet
on Facebook
Prolific and multiawarded writer, literary critic and
educator Lilia Quindoza Santiago died on Feb. 16,
leaving as her legacy a voluminous and celebrated
body of work, and many lessons taught across
diverse fields of discipline.
Santiago retired as an assistant professor of Ilokano
language and literature at the Department of Indo-
Pacific Languages and Literatures at the University of
Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), and worked at Tidewater
Community College as an adjunct professor of
English. She also worked as a consultant to the
National Foreign Language Center, a research
institute of the University of Maryland, up to the time
of her death.
POLITICAL PRISONER
Her character was, in a way, forged in the hell of
martial law as surely as gold is purified in the intense
heat of a crucible. She had been a student activist
and a political prisoner of the Marcos regime, under
which she was detained and tortured at the military
camp of Fort Bonifacio before joining the faculty of the
University of the Philippines (UP), where she taught
for three decades, and later, for nine years at UHM.
Her teaching career saw her take on such posts as
professor of English, Philippine languages (Ilokano
and Tagalog), Philippine and Asian (Southeast Asian)
Studies, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies and
Popular Culture. She was also an award-winning
writer and lifelong scholar. As prolific as she was in
her writing, teaching was her passion.
She taught and wrote in Ilokano, Tagalog and English,
and received awards for her books and works,
including “Sa Ngalan ng Ina (In the Name of the
Mother): 100 Years of Philippine Feminist Poetry” that
was published bilingually by UP Press. Santiago was
Makata ng Taon (Poet of the Year) in 1989 and
recipient of a plaque of recognition from the Komisyon
ng Wikang Filipino. Her published research include
“Mga Panitikan ng Pilipinas” (Philippine Literatutes)
and “Sexuality and the Filipina.”
She authored over 20 books, edited several literary
anthologies, was a literary critic, translator and
interpreter for Language Services Hawaii and a
contributing writer for Hawaii Filipino Chronicle. She
turned 72 just 10 days before she died.
Her passing has elicited many virtual eulogies online
from the local community of writers, academics and
many individuals whose lives she touched as both a
teacher and a writer—and through her activism.
Filmmaker Sari Dalena posted her grief on Facebook:
“Paalam, Tita Lilia Quindoza Santiago! You have
deeply touched my life with your feminist poems and
writing—your ‘Sa Ngalan ng Ina’ / ‘In the Name of the
Mother.’ ‘Asintada,’ ‘Filipino Poetry and Martial Law’
transformed me. You were a generous mentor who
wrote beautiful verses for my first short film. I still kept
the precious manuscripts you gave me. Love you, Tita
Lilia! Rest in Peace.”
Powerful writing
Writer and activist Aida CF Santos recalled Santiago
with profound condolences for her friend’s bereaved
kin: “Mahigpit na yakap sa pamilya ni Lilia Quindoza
Santiago—barkada simula noong 1960s, kasama, ka-
manunulat, guro at ina sa kanilang mga anak ni Jess.
Matinding pagdadalamhati mula sa aming lahat.
(Tight embraces for the family of Lilia Quindoza
Santiago—a friend since the 1960s, companion,
cowriter, teacher and mother to her children with Jess.
All of us offer our most heartfelt condolences).”
In her Facebook post, Karapatan secretary general
Tinay Palabay spoke of the power of Santiago’s
writing: “Hindi ko man siya naging guro sa
unibersidad, ang kanyang mga panulat ay nag-iwan
ng napakaraming aral para sa aking kamalayan.
Nitong mga nakaraang taon, finally, nakilala ko na
siya at nakaugnayan ko siya sa mga aktibidad para sa
mga bilanggong pulitikal, bilang dating bilanggong
pulitikal din si LQS. Pakikiramay kay Koyang Jess at
sa buong pamilya. (Even if she was not my teacher in
university, her writings have left so many lessons for
my consciousness. I finally got to know LQS over the
last few years and I was able to interact with her on
activities for political prisoners. Condolences to Kuya
Jess and to their whole family).”
Palabay also included Santiago’s poem “Sa Ngalan
ng Ina, ng Anak, ng Diwata’t Paraluman” in her post.
The last four lines of that poem deliver the power of
the divine feminine at prayer: “Basbasan ang aking
pagsalakay sa karawagan, / Pagpalain nawa ako sa
taimtim na paglaban / Ngayon, hanggang
katubusan. // Sa ngalan ng ina, ng anak, ng diwata’t
paraluman. (Bless my assault on cowardice. / May my
heartfelt battle be victorious / Now, until redemption. //
In the name of the mother, of the goddess and the
muse.)”
Syncretic Ethnosexual Rites:
Intersections of Sexuality and Ethnicity among
Filipinos
Lilia Quindoza Santiago
Introduction
 
1. I begin with stories of three women who
taught me important and practical lessons on
sexuality, ethnicity and citizenship. Inang
Onor is a partera [I] or comadrona [T],
[1] which are terms Filipinos use to mean
midwife. She assisted my mother in giving
birth to me. So I consider myself 'home-
made.' My older sister and I were both born
at home through Inang Onor's skills as
a partera. She was self-taught as a midwife
and was also popular as a hilot [T].[2] Her
services were sought after not only by
pregnant women but by others who had
problems with their bodies. She could heal
young women who had dysmenorrhea, fix
dislocated joints and had herbal cures for
inflamed skin. She was a mang-aatang [G],
[3] one who ministered to the sick by food
offerings and prayers. She also did buniag iti
sirok ti latok [I].[4] a ritual of rebaptism
described by Isabelo de los Reyes in his
book El Folklore Filipino.[5] In this ritual, the
spiritual leader prays over a sickly child and
gives her a new name. Inang did a simple
rite: she would utter a new name then place
an egg on a plate and when the egg could
stand then the new name was adopted. She
rebaptised my two sisters so that they would
not be so sickly.
 
2. Many women believed Inang had the power
to heal their barrenness; she had the power
to make them pregnant, bear children and
give birth more easily. Stories about her
skills as midwife included being able to fix
the position of the child in the womb. When
the baby's feet came out first during labour
she would put the little feet back into the
womb, slowly massage the womb to help the
baby tumble and possibly turn around head
first toward the cervix and come out through
normal delivery.
 
3. I remember asking Inang Onor how she was
able to do the things she was doing—that is,
helping people get rid of their illnesses,
helping women give birth or even helping
them get pregnant. Inang said it was a gift
from God Almighty, her 'Apo Dios a
Mannakabalin' [I]. Inang Onor was a devout
Seventh-day Adventist and went to Sabbath
every Saturday.
4. Ninang Lourdes is a woman from the Ibaloi
tribe of Benguet province in Northern Luzon.
When she embraced the Catholic faith, she
continued to celebrate the indigenous rites
she had known from childhood. She became
my mother's best friend. I remember the
Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays when
she and my mother would go to church early
in the morning. They wore white Catholic
Women's League (CWL) attire with blue
sashes around their waists. Because Ninang
Lourdes did not like hospitals, she gave birth
at home too. Her days of giving birth became
occasions for neighbourhood gatherings
because she would invite everyone into her
backyard to await her baby's first cry. She
would sponsor a canao [Sp],[6] also known
as kanyaw in Ilokano, which is a ritual among
peoples of Cordillera, a region in Northern
Luzon, Philippines. Canaos celebrate birth,
courtship and marriage, victory in war, and
harvests. Paeans are sung to the gods to
heal illness, to make rain during a drought or
seek help during moments of danger and
death. That she still celebrated
the canao and even encouraged others to
join her in these rituals is testament to her
commitment to keep ethnic roots intact. She
was determined to preserve and even
propagate the rites of her upbringing and
blend these with her catholic faith.
 
5. The third woman is Dr. Dolores Feria, my
teacher in comparative literature at the
University of the Philippines in the 1970s
Apart from inspiring me to study world
literature and learn of socially engaged,
 protest literature, Dy, as we fondly called her,
became my close friend especially during the
imposition of martial law in the Philippines.
Dolores Feria was born Dorothy Stephens,
an American citizen from Marcellus,
Washington but changed her name to
Dolores when she opted to marry Rodrigo
Feria, an Ilokano and a good friend of Carlos
Bulosan. She opted to become a Filipina,
lived and died in the Philippines.
 
6. What are the lessons that I learned from
these women? One is resilience in belief and
faith to assert ethnicity and sexual roles.
Sexual roles, broadly defined here refers to
differentiated work and responsibilities for
men and women in society. Another is the
significance of rites and rituals in summoning
a community and the third is recognition of
the virtue of choice in the affirmation of
ethnicity in citizenship.
 
7. Inang Onor and Ninang Lourdes were able to
reconcile and blend their own ways of
looking at the world with colonialist
introduced religions. For Ninang Lourdes, to
be a devout Catholic and still practice the
native canao, which is considered a pagan
animistic rite was perfectly all right. For Inang
Onor, there was no problem in becoming a
devout Seventh-day Adventist and practising
as healer of body and spirit. Both women
embraced their religions in order to engage
in rituals and make their vocations legitimate.
It was mainly through rites and rituals that
they could vigorously assert their ethnicity
and sexuality. To do this, they had to have
an abiding faith in the teachings of the
church to which they belonged.
 
8. Inang Onor, needed the Seventh-day
Adventist doctrine to gain grounding and
credibility in the community. This is
especially important with reference to her
crucial role in the processes of human health
and reproduction. I admired her resilience in
faith, but more than that, she taught me the
unique power of woman to procreate and to
sustain the life of a community. I think one of
the reasons I was never afraid to give birth
myself was because I knew I had Inang's
blessings by me during labour. Birth giving,
she had taught me, is a ritual, a necessary
social rite that was needed by society to
keep itself alive.
 
9. Dolores Feria is another story. She is my
own perfect example of how one can choose
one's citizenship in order to live a fuller and
more meaningful life. She embraced
Philippine life and became Filipina with
intense patriotism, an identity act which put
her in trouble with the Marcos dictatorship. I
was her student at the University but we
were peers in those dark days as we fought
the fascists through the underground
movement during martial law. She advocated
for a literature of refusal among Third World
writers: 'the refusal to accept the freaked out
cynicism of the overdeveloped world.'[7]
 
10. She authored The Long Stag Party[8] which
analyses and criticises Filipino machismo as
embedded in family, social and political life. It
was from her that I learned some of the most
radical changes that are desirable for
Filipinos. From her I learned how gender and
sexuality could be deployed for affirmative
action towards citizenship.
 
11. I use their stories now as personal
references for a discussion of the
significance of sexuality, the language/s of
the body in rites and rituals that bind
community. These stories lead to an
understanding of the intertwining sexual and
ethnic norms and processes in the
Philippines. These processes, I argue can
lead to more harmonious social and even
political life and relations. They illustrate how
responsible citizenship can be moulded in
the Philippines and in places where Filipinos
have migrated throughout the world.
Syncretic communal ethnosexual rites
 
12. Anthropologists historians and sociologists
define syncretism as the presentation of
belief systems that widely differ and
sometimes even contradict each other yet
are blended and become one in ritual.
[9] Syncretic broadly defined then means the
melding or welding of ethnic indigenous
traditions with colonial foreign traditions. The
blending of animistic rites which are
considered pagan with the Catholic liturgy is
a good example of syncretism Filipinos have
reinvented Catholicism because of the
melding and welding of ethnic rites with the
liturgy of the Catholic faith.[10]
 
13. Rites and rituals are distinguished from
political rallies and popular assemblies in
terms of organisation and purpose. Political
rallies, popular assemblies and cause-
oriented mobilisations are largely run by
organised forces and often focus on issues
of current concern. Rites on the other hand
are structured along custom and traditional
lines. In rite and ritual, people come together
to partake voluntarily and of their own accord
to celebrate custom or tradition. People who
partake in customary rituals follow what the
 occasion preaches and demands.
 
14. Syncretism is manifest in Philippine religious
rituals such as the Ati-atihan in Kalibo, Aklan,
[11] the Sayaw sa Obando which features
street and altar dancing in Obando, Bulacan,
[12] the Santacruzan which is now held in
various parts of the archipelago,[13] and the
feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo,
Manila.[14] These rituals are well attended.
People from the community and other areas
in the country, tourists and foreign visitors
are present in large numbers during these
rituals. Filipinos claim ownership of these
rites even as Catholic authorities
appropriated them as part of colonisation
and Catholic indoctrination.[15]
The Ati-atihan [T] as a masculine
celebration of virility
 
15. The Ati-atihan predated Spanish colonialism
and is believed to have begun in the
thirteenth century.[16] The rite is a form of
Dionysiac revelry and festivity where
drinking, chanting and dancing are done to
the beat of drums. The participants are
mostly adult males. When the Catholic
Church accepted the indigenous Ati[17] into
its fold, the Ati-atihan was transformed into a
Christian ritual and became festivity in
honour of the birth of Jesus Christ, or the
Santo Niñno. A common belief is that the Ati-
Atihan began when datus from Borneo fled
their islands, landed in Panay and were
received cordially by the natives. The natives
called Ati who were mostly black nomadic
tribes then ceded their lands to the
newcomers as they trekked to the mountains
to find newer fields to cultivate. But this story
of the Bornean Datus in Panay has been
subjected to scrutiny by historians and has
been found wanting in terms of historical
accuracy.[18] So, the story is now
considered only a legend or a myth. Anyway,
the myth still tells how every year at the time
of harvests, the Ati would come down from
the mountains to celebrate the bountiful
harvest and dance with those on the plains.
Those who have settled in the lowlands meet
the Ati. In harmony with the Ati, the
lowlanders paint themselves black.
 
16. Held for two weeks from the second Sunday
of January in Kalibo, Aklan, the last three
days of celebration turn wild as people adorn
themselves in colourful attires, paint their
bodies and faces black, at times using mud,
then march through the streets with the
rhythmic beating of drums and shouting,
'Hala Bira, Puwera Pasma!'[Ceb]. (Go, Go,
Dig, Punch, Save us from fatigue). This
celebration of plenitude and harvest was
appropriated by the Catholic authorities in
the colonial period because they could not
stop the indigenes from observing festivity
during harvest time. Churchgoers were then
made to observe the festival also as the
celebration of the birth of the child Jesus
which can arguably be interpreted as festivity
over birth with all its blessings of life and
abundance. The slogan, 'hala bira' has
overtones of sexual virility and pleasure.
 
17. Why does the Ati-atihan become wild in the
last three days after novenas and prayers?
Why did the friars choose to adopt the Ati-
atihan as the rite in celebration of the birth of
Jesus Christ? There can be as many
explanations but I believe that the friars
understood that this was a celebration of
men's virility. The men release libidinal
energy when they shout 'Hala Bira, puwera
pasma!' [Ceb] (Go, go, avoid fatigue) as they
beat drums and sometimes take off clothes
in the streets and dance almost naked.
The Sayaw sa Obando [T] (Dance in
Obando) as fertility rite
 
18. The Ati-atihan as celebration of virility and
abundance of harvest is related to the Sayaw
sa Obando. (Dance in Obando) which is a
fertility rite. Couples dance to Saint Claire,
Virgin of Obando to seek grace and
blessings to have a child. Others dance
thankful for having been blessed with
children. Celebrated on 17, 18 and 19 May
every year as feasts of Saint Pascual
Baylon, Saint Claire and the Virgin of
Salambao, people sing, dance, drink, beat
drums in the street procession that finally
enters the church. At the altar, masses of
people continue to dance and sing. The
traditional religious song in my own
recollection as I attended the festival over
the years was about the request for spouses
from Saint Claire, the patron saint of those
who wish to have children.
Santa Clarang, pinong-pino (St. Cla
Anak po kami'y bigyan n'yo (Please
Pagdating po sa Obando (When
Ipagsasayaw ng pandango [T]. (We wil
19.
 
20. The sayaw (dance) is done mostly by women
and this song is also sung mostly by women
accompanied by a band. The rite is feminine
with the women dressed in Philippine attire
such as the terno, the tapis and the saya and
dance the pandango in the streets and at the
altar.[20]
 
21. People in the town believe that the sayaw or
dance, like the Ati-atihan, predated Spanish
colonisation. People of the town narrate that
at one time, the celebration was banned from
going inside the church because of the
rowdiness of the crowd. But the people
persisted in the celebrations. The Catholic
authorities had to adopt the rite as part of
church ritual.
 
22. The three patron saints of the festivity are St.
Pascual Baylon to whom people, mostly
women, pray for suitable partners.The
services of St. Claire are invoked by couples
wishing to have children, and the Virgin of
Salambao is prayed to by those wishing for
prosperity and wealth. Fisherfolk narrate this
anecdote about how the Virgin of Salambao
was found as an image floating in the sea.
They then attempted to set sail for Malabon
but their boat would not move; when the
fishers rowed in the direction of Obando,
their boat was able to set sail. So the people
believe the Virgin of Salambao is for the
inhabitants of Obando.
 
23. While most of the crowds sing the traditional
song, a more rowdy and sacrilegious song is
sung by men alongside the procession and
by the less devout participants who want to
add colour to the festivity. The song, as I
recollect, is sung humorously but illustrates
interrogation of the rite itself and even hints
at spousal infidelity and abuse:
Santa Clarang pinong pino
Kami po ay bigyan n'yo
Ng asawang labintatlo
Sa golpe walang reklamo
24.
25. Philippine national hero Jose Rizal, in his
novel, Noli Me Tangere,[21] used the tale of
the miraculous impregnation of women by St.
Claire of Obando as a satiric device to
criticise the abuses of priests during the
Spanish conquest in the Philippines. The
heroine of the novel, Maria Clara is known to
have been born as a result of a miracle of St.
Claire as her mother, Dona Pia Alba, danced
in Obando. But in reality, Maria Clara is sired
by an abusive priest, Padre Damaso who
violates his vow of chastity to have an affair
with Dona Pia Alba. Pia Alba is married to a
Chinese businessman, Don Santiago de los
Santos. Rizal configured Padre Damaso,
with a similar satiric intent that is expressed
in these sacrilegious lyrics and overtones by
a public not entirely convinced of the
message and effectiveness of the miracle in
the dance ritual.
The Black Nazarene: a ritual for male
absolution of sin
 
26. The feast of the Black Nazarene is traced to
the worship of a burnt statue of Christ
transported from Mexico to the islands in
1607.[22] Celebrated on 9 January every
year, this festivity is a crowded ritual of
males in procession at the church of Quiapo,
hub of the city of Manila. The devotees,
mostly men, surround the fallen and burnt
Christ statue and attempt to get their bodies
near him. Some men throw pieces of cloth,
towel or kerchief for the sacristans guarding
the statue to wipe on the icon. The
sacristans then throw back the pieces of
material to their owners in the crowd. The
owners, who are lucky to get back their
pieces of cloth, use them in an attempt to
heal various types of bodily ailments—
sickness, deformity or disability. The cloth
may also be used to relieve an aching heart
or a tormented soul.
 
27. The centre of the celebration, the Quiapo
church in Manila, is surrounded by vendors
hawking different kinds of herbs, candles,
rosaries and other religious items. Some of
the herbal items vended around the church
are known to be an aid for procuring an
abortion. Women boil the herbs drink the
juice extract and expect to abort foetuses
from unwanted pregnancies. There is thus, a
curious semiotic significance of the fallen
and burnt Christ vis-à-vis the male devotees
as they practice penance for their sins and
the surrounding environment that peddles
herbs for abortion and its consequences to
sinners. The 'almost all' male crowd, which
generally numbers over a million yearly,
prays for the forgiveness of sins. There is a
powerful message implicated by this ritual in
a fiercely Catholic country that condemns
adultery, abortion and sins of lust related to
sexual and illicit pleasure—as well as
abortion.
The Santacruzan as a come on for
 courtship and mating
 
28. The Santacruzan is procession in honour of
St. Helene and her son Constantine who
founded the cross of Jesus in Christian
mythology. This is one of the rites for women
in the month of May. The other rite, Flores de
Mayo, is held at the beginning of the month.
In the Flores de Mayo, young women carry
flowers to the altar in honour of the Virgin
Mary.
29. The Santacruzan, is a re-enactment of St.
Helene's finding of the cross of Jesus Christ
with her son Constantine. In this ritual, the
community's girls and women with men as
their escorts are garbed in luxurious attire to
perform some twenty-five different roles in
the procession, starting with the Methuselah,
the banderada (flag or banner woman) the
Aeta (the indigene) the Mora, (the Muslim
women) then the different queens or Reynas
—Reynas Fe, Esperanza, Caridad,
Abogada, Sentenciada, Justicia, Judith,
Sheba, Esther, Samaritana, Veronica, the
Tres Marias, Marian, Ave Maria, Paz,
Propeta, Cielo, Virgines, Reyna de los Flores
and Reyna Elena (Queen Helene) who is the
most illustrious of them all and wears the
most exquisite of gowns. Often, the most
beautiful women in the town are selected to
represent various queens, some of whom
are derived from the Bible but some are
already invented characters—from local
realities like the Aeta to represent the Aetas
and the Mora to represent Muslim
communities.
 
30. Seen today, in all its gorgeousness, the
Santacruzan becomes an occasion for a
woman or a man to look for a partner. A
most recent development of the Santacruzan
is its appropriation and observance by
Filipino gays. The Babaylan, a Manila-based
group of gays staged a Santacruzan in 2007
in observance of one of the Lantern Parades
held annually at the University of the
Philippines grounds. The use of the ritual by
gay men is a declaration not only of 'coming
out' as gay but also as an appropriation of a
rite that belongs to all citizens, not just to the
richest clans or to the most beautiful of
women. Gay santacruzans have
mushroomed all over the country and are
positive indicators of acceptance by the gay
community of the effects of ethno-sexuality in
positive citizenship.
 
31. The episodes and the actions that are shown
in all these rituals are native inventions. The
sequential order by which the rites are
observed, the adulation for the icons varies
in accordance with the customs and
traditions of the place and are improvised
upon depending on the milieu and the
particular community which holds or
sponsors the rite. Entire communities
participate in these rites; guests are invited
to share and partake of the revelry and the
food. Tourists from different places of the
world who want to learn and study the rite
come and stay and mingle with the
celebrants.
32. In these rituals, one can witness very clear
intersections, interrelations, interactions of
sexual norms and ethnic practices. I use the
term syncretic ethno-sexual rites here
because of the use of indigenous custom for
initiation into the sexual world. The
participant celebrants, through traditional
songs and dances and prayers collectively
express and manifest a desire for ethnic
perpetuation and celebration. The desire for
ethnic perpetuation connotes sexual
procreative acts as well as ethnic
commemoration. Whole communities march
in towns and villages invoking blessings for
continued virility, fertility and overall well-
being of body and spirit.
 
33. Celebrations like these are better explained
from their ethnic beginnings. These festivities
were intended to create space for the
expression of various forms of desire,
collective and individual. They signal
initiation into adulthood. Young men and
women are introduced to the sexual world
thus the flirting, sexual seduction, display or
virility and the release of libidinal energy. The
Ati-atihan and Santacruzan festivel are now
so popular that many towns and
municipalities all over the country have
adopted them. The Ati-atihan becomes the
starting ceremony to call upon citizens to
come out, join the celebrations and actively
participate in the feast. The Santacruzan
serves as a central, crowning and final rite of
the festival.
Rite as negotiations to encode identity
 
34. These ethno-sexual rites traced from their
cultural roots are important processes in
defining and encoding identity. The Ati-atihan
for instance, is a negotiation with settlers to
preserve lands, bodies, harvests as all these
assure the preservation and promulgation of
the race, the genealogy, of the puli [I] or
the angkan [T]. Conservation of the culture,
language and heritage become significant
but are pursued at a later time because
before all these happen, there has to be a
 meeting, a connection between matters of
sexuality and ethnic progeny.
 
35. The festivities are a way of announcing and
proclaiming that the season for mating and
the processes that follow—courtship,
marriage, procreation and birth giving—has
begun and that anyone eligible could partake
in all the celebrations and be blessed
through rituals. Men and women who reach
the age of puberty become eligible for
marriage. They announce their status in the
festivity. They may also, through these rites,
announce their sexual preferences and
orientations as in the gay Santacruzan.
36. Ethno-sexual rites for these communities are
made public and people come out, shedding
all inhibitions, to release physical and
libidinal energy. Sexuality or sexualities are
unfolded for the public as the merriment
becomes a rite of passage and a good
occasion for socialisation. For ethnic
Filipinos, therefore, matters of sexuality have
always been out in the public sphere and
these are matters that invite talk, reflection
and discourse. However, the catholicisation
process tended to ignore this aspect of the
ethnic peoples' lives. The Spaniards' desire
to catholicise created some kind of moral
turgidity as the priests who presided over the
liturgy either purposely erased or glossed
over the sexual overtures of the rite in order
to observe these as 'proper' canonical
Catholic rituals.
 
37. This moral turgidity by the Catholic priests
may be sourced from the writings of the early
chroniclers of the Spanish conquest. They
had bared their intentions early on of
colonising the bodies of the natives since
they misunderstood the man-woman
relationships among the indigenes.[23] They
insisted that men lacked control over their
wives. They wrote that sometimes, men
tolerated even 'adultery' by their wives.
[24] Their self-righteous intent to preside
over the bodies and sexual desires of
the pintados[25] insisted on the 'lewdness
and unchastity of the women'[26] who
persisted in their conduct. They narrate how
the women were even encouraged by their
mothers because they incurred 'no
punishment.'[27] These observations betray
lack of understanding of the sexual freedom
of the pre-colonial woman and of the
premium placed by communal life on ethnic
and racial perpetuity.
 
38. The priests, Juan P. Noceda and Pedro
Sanlucar made a dictionary of the Tagalog
language entitled, Vocabulario de la Lengua
Tagala in 1754 and in this, and in many
dictionaries of Philippine indigenous
languages, they are known to have omitted
vocabulary pertaining to sex and sexual
matters.[28] However, ethnic Filipinos were
smart enough to have these inscribed in their
oral and performative literatures and this
explains the existence and persistence of
these ethno-sexual rites. These rituals
continue to gain supporters among local and
indigenous communities and they are
consciously performed to mark identity,
celebrate virility and fertility and seek
blessings for the health of body, mind and
spirit.
Sexuality and social agency
 
39. Sexuality has always been a matter that is
made public because coming to terms with
one's sexuality and sexual orientation is a
social as well as a public act. Robert Padgug
affirms this as he claims that sexuality,
although a part of material reality, is not in
itself an object or thing.[29] He believes
sexuality to be part of a process, or rather, a
group of social relations consisting of
different kinds of human interactions.
Sexuality insists on the relational and
consists of activity and interactions—active
social relations and not simply 'acts' as if
sexuality 'were the enumeration and typology
of an individual's orgasms a position which
puts the emphasis back on the individual
alone.[30] In other words, one cannot claim
to be a sexual being without having or
knowing sex. Sexuality is the totality of one's
sexual knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, values
and behaviours of individuals.[31]
 
40. In forwarding the social, rather than simply
the individualistic notion of sexuality, from
the standpoint, viewpoint and centuries-long
experience of ethnic Filipinos, I believe I
have helped start a conversation for a
healthier and more open, wholesome
discussion of sexuality in the diverse ethnic
and language groups in the Philippines.
 
41. It will benefit Filipino communities to seek
common ground and start from their roots as
it were, in the resolution of various conflicts
and problems that pervade social and
political life. Mounting these kinds of rituals
and infusing them with a communal
significance can be explored. Putting up the
Ati-atihan for example, to call attention to the
desire to eliminate the social divide between
lowlander and highlander populations would
be useful. Making street dances and
processions as community processes that
 engender and define can promote the
common good. Finally, continuity and
perpetuation of the race can be promoted by
opening up discussions and conversations
on the intersections of sexuality and ethnicity
as self-affirming modes of identity formation
and responsible citizenship. Resilience and
negotiations can be valuable tools in
resolving differences. The mounting and
observation of rites to seek absolution for
misguided steps and actions is also a
possibility.
 
42. I am aware that national and global
developments have made discussions of
ethnicity and sexuality intricate and complex.
Feminist theoreticians speak of the
sexualisation of race and racialisation of sex
—'that sex is raced and race is sexed' and
which suggests that there is such a thing as
ethno-sexuality.[32]
 
43. Ethnicity has become a complex and
perplexing issue because of layers of
definitions and re-definitions, delineations,
boundaries and borders. People have
crossed and crisscrossed ethnic borders and
ethnic progenies. Intermarriages have given
birth to creole and mestizo classes.
Sometimes four, five or even six races are
mixed in the blood of one person. One can
have Spanish, Filipino, Japanese, Chinese-
Portuguese, Hawaiian ethnicities. Ethnicity
today, like sexuality is negotiated. The limits,
the boundaries for definitions expand and
contract according to place, time and milieu.
Joane Nagel is right in claiming that ethnicity
is not merely a feature of one's ethnic
ancestry; that the social definition of one's
ethnicity and nationality is decided and given
meaning through one's conscious
interactions with others and that an
individual's ethnicity is as much the property
of others as it is the person's making the
ethnic claim.[33]
 
44. The age of globalisation, cyberspace and
digital technology has contributed to the
preservation, conservation and
documentation of ethnic identity. Peculiarity
and uniqueness are captured, and ethnic
identities are becoming more distinguished.
There are even more exact sciences that
determine progeny and more fascinating
technology to preserve memory. Filipinos
wherever they may be in the world today
should take advantage of these
developments. I am partial to memory,
because memory serves both as a link to the
past, and a bridge to the future. Memory is
both resistance to subjection and a weapon
against cultural interloping and encirclement.
That is why I treasure the memory of the
three women who have taught me early in
life, some very basic lessons on ethnicity and
sexuality.
 
45. Inang Onor will always remind me to
celebrate birth and to choose life and health
over everything else. Ninang Lourdes will
always remind me to keep my feet on the
ground, keep my roots intact and stay close
to home and hearth, even as strange
orientations fly overhead, and of course,
Dolores Feria is the quintessential exile in an
ethnic country—a woman who chose
freedom over servility.
 
46. I say this now as Filipinos roam the globe
with memories of the homeland and with
their sexualities and ethnicities always
expanding and contracting by choice and by
necessity. There are over a hundred different
ethnolinguistic and sectoral Filipino groups
and these are culturally diverse groups which
have different languages and literatures,
differences in tastes in food, clothing, shelter,
landscape and architecture, forms of
worship, beliefs, customs and most of all,
agendas for social progress and
development. Yet, differences cannot at
once constitute disadvantage. Differences
per se are no impediments to progress and
can even be used to promote progress.
Difference becomes corrosive only when
they are manipulated to produce exploitative
power relations. This is what has happened
for centuries now.
 
47. A coming together of these diverse cultural
groups, a communing with and sharing of
similarities and differences can help define
commonality as well as community. Ethno-
sexual rites, syncretic, indigenous or native
have the capacity to bring together the
diverse and continually diversifying groups
into some kind of recognition of
commonness in vision and desire. A
voluntary and willful recognition of a positive
multicultural, multiethnic identity is possible.
Such a recognition will contribute to social
vitality and progress. The rites and rituals like
the ones I have described above can be very
useful in achieving this.