Background
Let us at this point have a brief look fifteen years back from the first organizational stirrings of the Bago which was the establishment of the Bago Cultural Society, Incorporated in Baguio City in 1987. The highlight and culmination of the efforts of this organization was their coordinating the First Bago Congress under the sponsorship of the Office of the Northern Cultural Communities then headed by the very active Regional Director Rosalina Bistoyong. Director Bistoyong has espoused the cause of the Bago and has much credit for spearheading many of the Bago movement today. The purpose of the First Bago Congress was to establish the formal identity and tribal delineation of the Bago. It was a very good beginning that provided a solid foundation for much of our ongoing organizational efforts at present. It also gave birth to the Bago National Cultural Society of the Philippines, Incorporated (BNCSPI) that is now serving as the people’s organization for the Bago as contemplated in the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act or IPRA. Our continuing organizational efforts has led us to the Second Bago Congress in Saytan, Pugo, La Union in the year 2000 which unfortunately was hampered by the non-cooperation and hostile attitude of the Region I National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Regional Director David Donrique towards the Bago and the BNCSPI. This controversy with Director Donrique has resulted in the failure to document the proceedings of the Second Bago Congress. This problem seethed on until in October 10, 2002 Donrique issued Memorandum 083, which withdrew recognition of the Bago as one of the indigenous peoples of Region I. This resulted also to the termination of all Bago scholarship in Region I to the disgust and anger of many Bago scholars and their families. BNCSPI opposed and denounced Memorandum 083 until no less than the NCIP Chairman Reuben Lingating issued Memorandum 58 on March 20, 2003 revoking Donrique's Memorandum 083 and officially confirmed the Bago as one of the indigenous peoples of the Philippines. Incidentally, the appointment of this official is a case in point of how insensitive and thoughtless political patronage can cause widespread harm and havoc among our own people. We could therefore say that Donrique has unwittingly caused the accomplishment of the objective of the two previous Bago congresses - the formal and direct acknowledgement of the Bago identity, which I would say, is resoundingly unprecedented. I say resoundingly unprecedented because while the government has previously included the Bago among its listing of indigenous peoples in the Philippines, this is the very first time that an official government pronouncement has singularly cited and confirmed that the Bago is an indigenous people and an ethnic group. I think that without Donrique's Memorandum 083 it would probably take us countless congresses before we can even attain this.