• Special thanks to Estanislao Albano for sending me a copy of Province of Kalinga SP Ordinance No. 2021-015 authored by Michael Karel Sugguiyao.

Kalinga's 46 Ethnolinguistic Groups

Academic and popular texts often present the Kalingas of northern Philippines as an ethnically monolithic whole, disregarding the fact that the cultural territory of Kalinga (which includes the eastern sections of Mountain Province and Abra) is home to multiple languages and dialects, and dozens of ili 'communities'.

Eight Languages

The Ethnologue (Eberhard, Simons & Fennig 2022, 42) officially recognizes eight Kalinga languages:

• Southern Kalinga [dialects: Mallango/Madlango, Sumadel, Bangad, Tinglayan]

• Limos

• Butbut

• Mabaka

• Majukayang

• Lubuagan [dialects: Guina-ang (Guina-ang Kalinga, Guininaang, Pasil Guina-ang Kalinga, Pasil Kalinga, Pinasil), Ableg-Salegseg (Inableg), Balatok-Kalinga]

• Tanudan [dialects: Minangali (Mangali), Tinaloctoc (Taluctoc), Pinangol (Pangul), Dacalan, Lubo]

• Vanaw [dialects: Jinagyuman, Minalibkung]

  • Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2022. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-fifth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online: http://www.ethnologue.com.

I believe that if we were to conduct a complete linguistic mapping of Kalinga, we would come up with over a dozen languages.

46 Ethnic Groups

The number of ethnic groups in Kalinga varied in the writings of Kalinga scholars. In the 1990s, John B. Dongui-is identified 31 "subtribes of the Kalinga ethnolinguistic group" as follows:

• Balbalan: Alingag (Salegseg), Banao, Buwaya, Dao-angan, Gobang, Mabaca

• Lubuagan: Lubuagan, Mabongtot, Tanglag

• Pasil: Ableg, Balatok, Balinciagao, Guinaang, Kagalwan

• Pinukpuk/Tabuk: Gilayon

• Pinukpuk: Ballayangon, Limos

• Rizal: Gamonnang

• Tabuk: Biga, Calaccad (Gaddang), Nanong

• Tanudan: Dacalan, Lubo, Mangali, Taloctoc

• Tinglayan: Bangad, Basao, Botbot, Dananao, Tinglayan, Sumadel

In the early 2000s, Kalinga scholars Raymond Balbin and Maximo Garming (2003, 6-11) published a list of 44 Kalinga "subtribes" which they classified thusly:

• Northern Kalinga: Banao, Buaya, Dao-angan, Gubang, Mabaca, Salogsog; Ammacian, Ballayangon, Limos, Pinukpuk, Wagud; Allay/Kalakkad, Biga, Gamonang, Gobgob, Guilayon, Nanong, Tobog

• Eastern Kalinga: Dakalan, Gaang, Lubo, Majukayong, Mangali, Taloktok

• Southern Kalinga: Bangad, Basao, Butbut, Sumadol, Tongrayan, Tulgao; Lubuagan, Mabungtot, Tanglag, Uma;Ablog, Balatoc, Balinciagao, Cagaluan, Colayo, Dalupa, Dangtalan, Guina-ang, Magsilay-Bulen

  • Balbin, Raymond and Maximo Garming. 2003. Ethnography of the Kalinga. Quezon City: National Commission on Culture and the Arts.

Other knowledgeable Kalingas I had consulted add the following names to Balbin and Garming's list of 44 Kalinga groups: Aciga, Colminga/Kulminga, Dallak, Dugpa (Limos-Guilayon), Magaogao, Malagnat, Malbong, Minanga, Pangol/Bawac-Pangol. The Kalakkad are also called Ga‘dang.

In 2021, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan  (SP) 'Provincial Council', Provincial Board' of Kalinga approved Provincial Ordinance No. 2021-015 that officially listed 46 ethnolinguistic groups in the province. 

Originally titled "An  Ordinance Recognizing the Present Ethnolinguistic Groups of Kalinga by their Ascribed Names and Enjoining the Public to Address Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICC)/Indigenous Peoples (IP) by Their Respective Ascribed Names in Accordance with Their Respective Ancestral Domain", it was authored by SP Member Michael Karel B. Sugguiyao who chairs the Committee on Tribal Affairs, Ancestral Domain, Arts and Culture. The SP-approved ordinance was eventually titled to "Recognition of the Present Ethnolinguistic Groups of Kalinga by their Ascribed Names".

The ordinance is a most welcome initiative of Kalingas to assert their respective identities, especially with the fact that Kalinga  'enemy', 'head-taker' is an exonymic misnomer, a name imposed by outsiders who cast an unsavory reputation on all these Indigenous communities.  

Following the said ordinance, the term "Kalinga" should now refer to this political territory officially known as "Province of Kalinga" and to be no longer used as an ethnolinguistic term, and all Indigenous Peoples in the province should be called according to their respective names as listed below:

• N.B.: While the document spelled our group as "Banao", I have intentionally spelled it as "Vanaw" to conform to our orthography.  I suppose that other terms here would have to be spelled differently were we to further consult those who belong to each of these groups. Majukayong or Majukayang, although culturally and linguistically part of what have been generally called "Kalingas", is not in the list probably because its ancestral domain lies in barangays Majukayong and Saliok in the municipality of Natonin, Mountain Province. 

Historical Sketch

During the American colonization, the areas within the tribal boundaries of Kalingaland were referred to in documents by foreign writers as "regions" or "provinces" (Barton 1949, 32; Schadenberg 1975, 131; Dozier 1967, 12; Sugguiyao 1990, 48).  Taking all these territories together, the Kalinga of old was a much, much wider culture area extending as far as Abra to the west (Billiet & Lambrecht [1970] 2001, 43-44).

From the early 1600s to the late 1800s, Kalinga was subjected to at least 10 military and religious incursions by the Spaniards, four of which were made from the west (Abra) primarily targeting the regions of Banao (Vanaw) and Guinaang (Scott 1974, 2; Bacdayan 1967, 17; Lawless 1975, 43-45).

Around the mid-1800s, the Spaniards succeeded in establishing a telegraph station near the border of present-day provinces of Abra and Kalinga, and subsequently hacked out the Ilocos-Abra-Kalinga-Cagayan trail. However, they failed to establish a total politico-military foothold in the whole area (cf. Scott 1974, 249; Sugguiyao 1990, 15; Bacdayan 1967, 17-18; Dozier 1966, 29-32).

Kalinga emerged as a distinct ethnic group and a geopolitical unit in the Cordilleras during the early years of the American occupation when the land of the Kalinga became one of the highlights of the new colonizers‘ "Pacification Campaign".

On August 18, 1907, Kalinga, then a sub-province of Lepanto-Bontoc, came under the control of Lt. Gov. Walter Franklin "Sapao" Hale who established his seat of government in Lubuagan (Jenista 1987, 70, 259). He organized the sub-province into four districts: Tinglayan-Tanudan, Balbalan-Pasil, Pinukpuk-Tobog, and Liwan/Rizal, Tinglayan-Tanudan; Balbalan-Pasil; Pinukpuk-Tobog (Tabuk), and Liwan/Rizal (Sugguiyao 1990, 16).

Exactly a year later, Act 1870 of the Philippine Commission carved the Old Mountain Province out of Northern Luzon with five sub-provinces, namely: Lepanto-Bontoc, Amburayan, Ifugao, Benguet, Apayao and Kalinga.

Kalinga was immediately reorganized into five municipal districts—Lubuagan (including Tanudan and Pasil), Balbalan (including Balinciagao), Tabuk (with Liwan or Rizal), Tinglayan, and Pinukpuk (De Los Reyes 1986, 28).

On June 18, 1966, RA No. 4695 was passed splintering the Old Mountain Province into four regular provinces—Benguet, Mountain Province, Ifugao, and Kalinga-Apayao. When Corazon Aquino rose to power, she issued E.O. 220 (July 15, 1987) creating the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) with Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga-Apayao and Mt. Province as its regular provinces.

On February 14, 1995, President Fidel Ramos signed RA No. 7878 into law separating Kalinga and Apayao into two distinct regular provinces.

• Bacdayan, Albert. 1967. The Peace Pact System of the Kalingas in the Modern World. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, Inc.

• Barton, Roy F. 1949. The Kalingas: Their Institutions and Custom Law. Chicago: The University Of Chicago Press.

• Billiet, Francisco & Francis Lambrecht. (1970) 2001. The Kalinga Ullalim and Ifugao Orthography. Baguio City: Catholic Schools Press. Reprint, Baguio City: Immaculate Heart PrintHall.

• De los Reyes, Angelo and Aloma de los Reyes, eds. 1986. Igorot: A People Who Daily Touch the Earth and Sky. Baguio City: Cordillera Schools Group.

• Dozier, Edward P. 1966. Mountain Arbiters: The Changing Life of a Philippine Hill People. Tucson, AZ: The University Of Arizona Press.

• Jenista, Frank Lawrence. 1987. The White Apos: American Governors on the Cordillera Central. Quezon City: New Day Publishers.

• Lawless, Robert. 1975. The Social Ecology of the Kalingas of Northern Luzon. Ann Arbor, MI: Xerox University Microfilms.

• Schadenberg, Alexander. 1975. “The Banao People.” In German Travelers on the Cordillera (1860-1890), edited by William Henry Scott, 129-139. Manila: Filipiniana Book Guild.

• Scott, William Henry. 1974. The Discovery of the Igorots: Contacts with the Pagans of Northern Luzon. Quezon City: New Day Publishers.

In the same ordinance, these ethnolinguistic groups are also referred to as "Indigenous Cultural Communities" and "tribes".