Asocena: History of Dog Meat-Eating in the ... - Philippine Culture

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though, bribe the barangay tanod or police with your crispy Php 500 bill. Should you bought the dog from anearby area from an owner who is in dire need of money, put the dog in a sack. Carry the sack on your back.2. Remove the dog from the sack. Tie the dog in a post. Do not hear its barks, cries and howls for dear life.Hit its head with a two-by-two inch piece of lumber with a nail at the end. Do this several times until it is dead.3. Hang the lifeless dog on a tree branch or post upside down. Slit its throat. Place a basin underneath tocatch blood. Sprinkle rice and salt on blood until it solidifies. (Blood of black dogs is a potent medicineagainst tuberculosis, says a folk belief in Negros.)4. Burn the dog coat with a flame thrower. Release the lifeless dog from the post. Shave until its smoothwhite skin shows.5. Slice to pieces. Wash.6. Put the dog meat in a kawa or a big pan. Boil in vinegar for an hour.7. Add a little water and sprinkle salt. Do not mix yet. Let it stand for a few more minutes.8. Cook again in low, cooking fire. Add potatoes, soy sauce and sprinkle with black pepper.9. Pour tomato sauce, tomato paste, yellow and green peas and garnish with plenty of laurel leaves.10. Serve with plenty of ice-cold beers or gin.Call it scary, violent or embarrassing for local governments – but mere words cannot express how inhumanand undogly, rather ungodly, this dog killing that has been going on for years. It has spread widely not only inIlocos, Pangasinan, Pampanga or Bulacan but has also reached Batangas to as far as Iloilo.This time, however, dog killing is no longer a solemn offering to drive away avenging spirits but has becomean every weekend way of life that feeds on man’s greed for pleasure.Despite the promulgation of Animal Welfare Act that prohibits violation of animal rights including killing andeating dogs, the wet section of Baguio City Market remains to sell dog meat though discreetly. A law in 1920declaring dog meat as “hot meat” for the rabies it may have did not deter dog meat eaters from continuing toviolate it.Dog killing has been done openly with even the supposed authorities to implement the law such as localvillage officials and policemen violating it during their drinking sprees with istambays and local people.Linis-Gobyerno (Clean Government), an NGO in the Philippines, estimates that 290,000 dogs are beingkilled in the country for asocena yearly. It is a multi-million peso business that earns dog meat traders anaverage of Php 174 million annually.Conclusion: Cultural evolution, health and povertyThe concept of dog meat-eating during this 21st century has been corrupted and in most cases no longer inaccordance with the intention that our early Igorot ancestors had. Through the years, the solemnity of theritual has lost among those who have a penchant for meat eating combined with convenient excuses such as‘dog meat goes well with beer or gin”, “it is cheap” or that “it keeps the body warm.”Commercialism has obscured its traditional meaning as dog meat profiteers and eaters sell and kill dogs formoney and pleasure.Nita Hontiveros-Lichauco, president of Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), says the Cordilleranpeople love their dogs because they guide them in their hunting in the mountains. There have been manyinstances of pet dogs saving their humans and have the intelligence of a three-year old human being,according to studies. Dogs can feel, hear and smell 50 times more than humans can and that they savehumans most of the time.“The sacred tradition of the Cordillerans has been commercialized in the past 20 years,” observes Linis-Gobyerno, an NGO based in Baguio City.Bing Dawang, an Igorot editor, emphasizes that this kind of “cultural evolution” has implications to theFilipino citizenry as a whole. She likens dog killing to headhunting as she explains:“Igorot culture has greatly changed since 1904. Headhunting, for example, was also part of the Igorot cultureand way of life a hundred years ago. We now recognize and reject that practice as murder. This isadaptation. This is cultural evolution.”Dog meat traders also capitalize on poverty as they sell dog meat cheaper than pork, beef and chicken. Awhole carcass of dog being sold from Php 300 up to Php 500 can feed 20 drunkards and their unsuspectingfamilies. It may even be gotten for free when the dog is stolen in the neighborhood, accidentally wentcuriously out of the gate or totally gone astray. Dog meat eaters are usually poor people who cannot afford tobuy the more expensive kind of meat, according to a general impression.In Baguio City that has become a melting pot of many cultures, however, the cold temperature is made as areason for eating dog meat. This was perhaps the reason why the Igorots ate dog meat at St. Loius World’sFair in 1904 not knowing of the implication they will create in the future. Or maybe food had been scarceduring their seven-month stay in that US territory. It was recorded that two Filipino exhibitors died because ofextreme cold and undisclosed disease during this world fair.The western and local media reported on this dog meat-eating at the exhibit essentially drumbeating whatthey perceive as exotic from the point of view of strangers who do not know the intricacies of the Igorotculture. On the other hand, dog meat eaters who do not know the real meaning and sanctity of the traditionmade a counter attack branding those who pick on them for their dog meat eating habit as culturalimperialists. This “cultural imperialism” , dog meat eaters defend, has been another western imposition usingas vantage point their own experience, standards in food habit and limited environment.
Unbeknownst to many – Filipinos and other nationalities – Igorots perform dog killing as a solemn ritual tosave their lives, a cultural tradition that was misinterpreted to be just dog meat-eating per se stripped of itssanctity and depth by greed for profit and pleasure of and for the flesh.Cultural tradition of foot binding in China is no longer practiced nowadays freeing girls and women of thisage-old bondage; Clitoridectomy had already been banned in African and nearby influenced regions savingmany girls of extreme pain and agony; Forced or arranged marriages or widow burning was also prohibitedin India and other Asian countries; Same with the Igorots and other Filipino groups’ headhunting tradition thatwas stopped decades ago. If this headhunting had stopped, dog killing may also be stopped through time.Some dog killers and dog eaters whom police apprehended falsely hide under the cloak of cultural traditionor guise of poverty. But they cannot hide the fact that while the number of tribal wars and Igorot conflicts hasgone down in the past years, dog meat consumption has jumped up high not only in Baguio but alsoanywhere around the country.It has been affecting how Filipinos relate to their families, to the people in the community, to the animalsdogsin particular, and to the environment in general. An egging question that can guide people in choosingthe food to be eaten is: What is our intention in eating dog meat or any other food for that matter?There are concepts and principles – and long forgotten history – in every food served on the table.————————————————References:1. Blair and Robertson. Philippine Islands 1493-1803 (Volume 20), pp. 276-2792. Felix M. Keesing, Taming Philippine Headhunters, A Study of Government and of Cultural Change inNorthern Luzon (London: George and Unwin Limited, 1934), pp. 453. Virgilio R. Pilapil. Dogtown, USA: An Igorot Legacy in the Midwest. (Heritage, June 1994, Volume 8, Issue2), p.15, p. 4, 3bw4. Bing A. Dawang. Dog Eating and My Culture. The Junction, June 2004, p. 25. Vincent Cabreza. President Arroyo Defends Dog Eating. Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1 January 2006, p. A1.6. Nita Hontiveros Lichauco. Telephone interview, 45 minutes (New Manila: 20 January 2005)7. Juliet Corazon Patiño. Interview, 30 minutes ( Quezon City: 16 January 2005)8. Women witnesses. Interview, 60 minutes (San Jose Del Monte City, Bulacan: 27 December 2004)9. Avelino Cielo. Text Message on 12 March 200610. www. linisgobyerno.org11. Dog,The Other White Meat@Everything2.com12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_meat13. An online guide of Philippine History. www. geocities.com/College Park/Pool/1644/precolonial.html14. http:// wolf.ok.ac.kr/-annyg/english/e6.htm15. Sacla, Wasing. Treasury of Beliefs and Home Rituals.16. http:// new.inq7net/regions/index/ph/index 2 & story_id6327217. Cultural imperialism in the Ban of Eating Dogs. Inq7.net (2 February 2006). www.google.com.ph/search?hl=tl&q=dog+eating+philippine+cultural+imperialism&btnG=Hanapin&meta=(Gloria Esguerra Melencio wrote this paper in Filipino as a requirement in Kasaysayan 10 in March 2006.The same author translated this paper to English for the philippinehistory.ph in June 2009.)ref.: http://philippinehistory.ph/tag/ancient-rituals/Look also www.FilipinoFood.ph and www.IndigenousGroups.ph
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