Kafagway

Kafagway Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Kafagway, Landmark & historical place, Baguio, Baguio City.

15/07/2025

Today marks the anniversary of the July 16, 1990 earthquake that shook Baguio to its core. We honor the lives lost, the strength of the survivors, and the resilience that rebuilt the City of Pines.

28/05/2025
04/12/2024

A rare Long horned carabao in Tagudin, Mountain Province, (now a part of Ilocos Province.) Circa 1910.

On August 19, 1908, During the American rule, the Philippine Commission enacted Act No. 1876, which organized the entire area of the Cordilleras into one large province, named Mountain Province.

It was originally composed of the sub-provinces of Amburayan, Apayao, Benguet, Lepanto-Bontoc, Ifugao and Kalinga. Amburayan was later abolished in 1920 and its corresponding territories were transferred to the provinces of Ilocos Sur and La Union.

29/11/2024

Igorot girls Philippines, making lace for the American Red Cross, 1919

All Saints Mission School at Bontoc, Luzon, Philippines

đź“· John Tewell

29/11/2024

Bua School for Igorote girls, making lace, Baguio, Philippines, 1920

đź“· John Tewell

29/11/2024

Steam powered trucks to Baguio, Luzon, Philippines early 1900s

The Benguet Road, now Kennon Road has been described as "an automobile boulevard" during the 1900s

đź“· John Tewell

21/11/2024
21/11/2024

"Olog", Native Trial Marriage House
Bontoc, Mountain Province
Undated, estimate circa 1940s-1950s

There is a practice among the Ifugaos of northern Luzon of segregating "marriage-able" girls in a communal abode called "Olog" or "Agamang". (The marriageable boys are accommodated in another communal house called the "Ato".) The boys from the "Ato" regularly visit the "Olog" and perform the first stage of courtship known as the "Ca-i-sing". They unburden their feelings in native songs rich in meanings and insinuation.

The girls respond likewise in native verse. All these are done under the watchful eye of the "Olog" head -- an elderly and married woman or a childless widow who keeps the parents of her wards informed of the developments of the courtship.

The practice, unique to our Northern Mountain Tribes is also known as "Ebgan" (Kalinga) or "Pangis" (Tingguian).

Cornélis De Witt Willcox wrote in “The Head Hunters of Northern Luzon”: Poor as we found the village on the material side, it has nevertheless some interesting institutional features. For example, it has sixteen wards, or "atos", and each "ato" has its meeting place, consisting of a circle of small boulders, where the men assemble to discuss matters affecting the "ato", such as war and peace; for the "ato" is the political unit, and not the village as a whole.

A remarkable thing is the family life, or lack of it rather: as soon as children are three or four years old, they leave the roof under which they were born and go to sleep, the boys in a sort of dormitory called "pabajunan", occupied as well by the unmarried men, 1 and the girls in one called "olog". And, as one may ask whether pearls are costly because ladies like them or whether ladies like pearls because they are costly, so here: Is the Igorot house so poor an affair because of the "olog", etc., or does the "olog" exist because the house is poor? [Source:“The Head Hunters of Northern Luzon” by Cornélis De Witt Willcox, Lieutenant-Colonel U.S. Army, Professor United States Military Academy, 1912 ]

The children go on sleeping in their respective "pabajunan" and "olog" until they are grown up and married. A sort of trial marriage seems to exist; the young men freely visit the "olog"—indeed, are expected to. If results follow, it is a marriage, and the couple go to housekeeping; otherwise all the parties in interest are free.

Marriage ties are respected, adultery being punished with death; but a man may have more than one wife, though usually that number is not exceeded. However, a man was pointed out to us, who maintains in his desire for issue, but without avail, a regular harem, having no fewer than fifteen wives in different villages, he being a rich man.

*Betrothal - Engagement.
An engagement, betrothal, or fiancer is a promise to wed, and also the period of time between a marriage proposal and a marriage. During this period, a couple is said to be betrothed, "intended", affianced, engaged to be married, or simply engaged.

14/11/2024

Rimando Road, Baguio THEN & NOW

The Dangwa Trans/Immanuel Trans Station at Bontoc. Dec. 1980📸 Willford Peloquin
11/11/2024

The Dangwa Trans/Immanuel Trans Station at Bontoc. Dec. 1980

📸 Willford Peloquin

Baguio to Cervantes 1980's dangwa tranco
10/10/2024

Baguio to Cervantes 1980's dangwa tranco

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Baguio City

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Baguio’s Nostalgia

Baguio City a highly urbanized city located in the southern part of the province of Benguet in northern Luzon island of the Philippines.

Baguio City was established by the Americans as a hill station in 1900 at the site of an Ibaloi village known as Kafagway. It was the United States' only hill station in Asia. The name of the city is derived from the Ibaloi word bagiw meaning 'moss.' The city is situated at an altitude of approximately 1,540 meters (5,050 feet) in the Luzon tropical pine forests ecoregion conducive for the growth of mossy plants and orchids.

The First settlers in Baguio were Kankanaey and Ibaloi tribe. At present Baguio and its nearby town is known as the place wherein the culture wasn't influence by the Spaniards, as the city was once known as barely touched.

When the American took the Philippines they declared Baguio as the "summer capital of the Philippines" in 1903. In 1903, Filipino, Japanese and Chinese workers were hired to build Kennon Road, the first road directly connecting Baguio with the lowlands of Pangasinan. Before this, the only road to Benguet was Naguilian Road, and it was largely a horse trail at higher elevations.