BONTOC
• 3rd class
municipality
and the
capital of
Mountain
Province,
Philippines
• the historical
capital of the entire
Cordillera region
since the inception
of governance in the
Cordillera
• has a
population of
24,798 people
in 5,035
households
• politically
subdivided
into 16
barangays
• The local
economy depends
largely on small
trades and
agriculture
• Its biggest economic
potential is tourism
with its smaller
rice terraces in
Barangay Bay-yo,
Maligcong and other
areas.
"bun" (heap) and "tuk" (top)
Mountain = Bontoc
Bontoc Tribe
or Bontoks
The Bontoks, according to the Book of the
“the fiercest and
Philippines, 1976, are
most warlike but their advanced ways
make them the most sociable of all the
tribes.” They are the native inhabitants of
Bontoc, Mountain Province.
The Bontoc have a tradition of
cloth weaving. The background
colors are dark, the favorite
being blue. Geometric designs are
diamonds, triangles, hexagons and
zigzags. Representational designs
are the dancing man or woman,
stars, leaves, and rice paddies.
These are woven in yellow, green,
white and red threads. These
designs are used in garments and
blankets.
• The pre-Christian Bontoc belief
system centers on a hierarchy of
spirits, the highest being a
supreme deity called Lumawig.
• Although the
Bontoc
believe in
the anito or
spirits of
their
ancestors and
in spirits
dwelling in
nature, they
are
essentially
monotheistic
• The Bontoc also
believe in the
"anito"—spirits
of the dead who
must be consulted
before anything
important is
done.
Literary Arts
• riddles, proverbs, aphorism,
songs, tales, legends, and
myths
“Wada san duay sing-anag-i menkasidkugda”
There are two brothers,
they turn their backs on one another.
EARS
“Mo madsem maannaannawa
mo pay mapat-a ngumadan si tubong” (Abek)
A bamboo tube by day,
by night a sea.
MAT
ATO
• large,
compact
settlement
built among
rice
terraces
and divided
into wards
• chap-ay
• Each ato has: (circular open
- 15 to 50 houses space paved
with flat
- Communal center stones)
• fawi (house
where old men
gather)
• pabafunan
(dormitory for
young men and
boys in their
adolescence)
• olog (dormitory
for girls)
Parts of
Fayu
• Falig (granary)
• Cha-la-nan
(through the
doorway one
enters the
ground floor,
includes the
space under the
granary)
• Ang-an
(sleeping
compartment)
FAYU
• Bontoc house
• The basic
form is like
that of the
Ifugao house
except that
the house
cage serves
as a
granary
wood or
The traditional Bontoc house was made of
cogon grass. It was pyramid- shaped or A-
shaped. It was small and had only one bedroom
such that other members of the family could not be
accommodated.
Aside from the bedroom, the traditional Bontoc
house had another room with different
divisions; kitchen, a space for dining and,
at the same time, for receiving visitors; a
space for some parallel piece of wood nailed
together to serve as a multi-purpose table,
below is a space for chicken coops, garden
tools, gathered camote leaves, root crops, and
baskets; a space above the bedroom is for pots,
jars, native plates, wooden dipper and ladle.
Since there was only one bedroom, the male
teen-agers had to sleep in the ato while the
female counterparts would go to the ulug.
A house within
a house…
In the Bontoc house, levels and
compartments clearly define the
function of spaces. Areas for
working, cooking, sleeping, and
storage even have specific names.
