15/08/2025
BAKIT MAS MADALI SA MGA IGOROT NA MAGSALITA AT MAKAINTINDI NG ENGLISH KAYSA FILIPINO?
If you’ve ever been to the Cordilleras, you might notice something curious - a lot of Igorots can carry a conversation in English with ease, sometimes even more comfortably than in Tagalog or Filipino. This isn’t an accident or a matter of personal preference; it’s the result of history, geography, and the way our ancestors were brought into the modern education system.
When the Americans took over the Philippines in 1898, they had a different approach to governing the Cordillera compared to the Spanish. The Spaniards had tried for centuries to colonize the highlands but failed, partly because of the fierce resistance of the Igorots and the region’s rugged, isolated terrain. When the Americans arrived, they knew direct conquest wouldn’t win hearts. Instead, they chose a softer but more far-reaching weapon: education.
The U.S. colonial government sent the Thomasites - American teachers - into the highlands. Their mission wasn’t just to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic; it was to open the Igorots to a new world order under American influence. And they did it using English as the medium of instruction.
Why English and not Tagalog? There are three big reasons:
Geographic separation: The Cordillera was isolated from the Tagalog-speaking lowlands. The cultural and linguistic gap was already wide. English became the “bridge” instead of Tagalog.
Neutral ground: English didn’t belong to any local ethnic group. It was a “fresh” language that avoided the politics of favoring Tagalog or Ilocano.
Colonial goal: English wasn’t just a language; it was a tool for shaping loyalty and aligning the Igorots with the American way of governance, religion, and economics.
Generations of Igorot children grew up learning their ABCs, history, and science in English. At home, they still spoke Kankanaey, Ifugao, Ibaloi, or other native tongues but in school, English was king. By the time Tagalog became the official national language in 1937, English had already taken deep root in the Cordillera education system.
This is why, even today, you’ll meet elders who can barely speak Filipino but can read an English newspaper fluently. It’s also why younger Cordillerans can easily adapt to English-based jobs, from tourism to overseas work. For many Igorots, English isn’t just a “foreign” language; it’s part of the inherited toolkit for navigating the modern world - a legacy from a colonial past that changed the way the highlands communicated with the rest of the country.
