La Union tribe reclaims ancestors’ remains

SAN FERNANDO CITY — The skeletal remains of six ancestors of the Kankanaey tribe and several artifacts were retrieved from the Museo de La Union at the provincial Capitol here yesterday after a brief tribal ritual called sinitsit.

Elders of the Kankanaey tribe in Bagulin, La Union conducted the sinitsit — a native ritual honoring the dead — before placing the skulls and skeletal parts inside a wooden coffin, together with antique plates, spears, jars, bowls, pots and a pew-pew, a native instrument.

A truck then transported the remains of four of the six Kankanaey ancestors to the town plaza of Bagulin where a cañao — a traditional native celebration — was held to celebrate their return because they believe that it would bring them good luck.

The skeletal remains will be temporarily housed in a room in the Bagulin town hall until the Kankanaey elders can determine the proper place where they can be buried.

Jason Lictao, the municipal secretary, said his father, George Lictao, and two others discovered the skeletal remains in 1940, stored in a wooden coffin inside the Kidlap Cave in the mountain village of Kambali.

The remains were subsequently taken by the Philippine Tourism Authority and turned over to the care of the provincial government in 1978 when the PTA vacated its offices in La Union.

Lictao said there were historical accounts from Kankanaey elders that the tribal folk experienced bad luck like severe drought, crop damage and other disasters when their ancestors’ remains were removed from the cave.

He said Kankanaeys are happy now that that the remains are back. "This is part of our culture, we are happy. We will offer one carabao and two native pigs during the cañao," he said.

Marcelino Lictao, along with two Kankanaey elders, started the sinitsit by offering basi, sugarcane wine, and tabako, a hand-rolled native tobacco.