The history of the Mountain Province is seen to fall into three distinct periods. In the first of these, when the Republican Party controlled the Presidency of the United States, the emphasis was upon creating a form of mountain reservation for the "non-Christian tribes" of the Cordillera Central. After a series of adventurous expeditions had been undertaken in order to define the ethnology of the region, policy was directed toward developing roads and trails whereby to put an end to the intertribal feuding and headhunting, thus laying the foundations for the future civilization of these "wild men," as Dean Worcester was in the habit of describing these mountain peoples. This policy of creating mountain reservation inevitably lent itslef to "divide-and rule" tactics on the part of the imperial power.The second period was inaugurated by the incoming Democrats in 1913, when the idea of separating the mountain peoples from their lowland Christian neighbors was abandoned in favor of a policy aimed at achieving their integration in the body politic of the Philippine nation, and the emphasis shifted from the building of roads and trails to the provision of better and more widespread health and educational facilities. The third period, hastened by the events of the Second World War, saw the mountain peoples taking over the local control of their own affairs.

2024/332pp
bookpaper/paperback
Revised Edition
First Published in 2006