Naked in Pagudpud, thinking about dona victorina

I don't have plans of posting anything in my blog this week. After all, I am in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte at the Saud Beach Resort. I am here to rest and recreate myself. But I was reading Amiel's comment section where people responded to my comment about dog-eating.

So, despite the fact that I am terribly drunk, here is my response:

okay, since I brought it up...


No, there is no special resolution exempting Vigan from the animal welfare act. Exceptions are only allowed in areas defined as ancestral domains. The problem with environmental laws and animal rights is that they do not take priority in terms of law enforcement. I swear to god I saw several policemen lining up to eat in those dog- specialty eateries in Vigan, but nobody seems to care.

I come from an Igorot ancestry, so I should know that not all Cordillerans eat dogs. In the time of my forefathers, eating the dog of a fallen headhunter or warrior was part of the ritual to honor the dead. Most of the tribal warriors had dogs to accompany the hunt, and when the dog's master died, it was assumed that the spirit of the dog went with the master, so the dog was eaten as pure flesh.

My people were food gatherers, and yes, some tribes like the Ibaloi and Kankanaey have found eating dogs helpful during the very cold months because of the heat it gives to the hunters' body. Remember we wear g-strings? In the middle of a pine forest in the cold winds of December, the frost sometimes kill the weak?

It's not only the primitive faith of my people, it was also a survival mechanism that dog-eating became part of the culture.

Trust me on this, slowly my people are educating each other, and they have moved away from practices that dehumanize our culture, and damage the environment.

Tonight, I am naked here in Pagudpud, alone in the beach. I don't have a problem with that, nudity is the norm in my tribe. But certainly, we have learned to wear decent clothes when we the situation calls for it.

We have moved away from g-strings, we can move away from dog-eating. Give us some time.