The issue surrounding the wearing of bahag by candidates for the 2025 Hangway sang Capiz as part of this year’s Capiztahan is an opportunity to dispel misinformation about our rich yet diverse cultural heritage as a nation.
There is no cultural misappropriation in wearing the bahag, similar to that worn by the indigenous people of the Cordillera in Northern Luzon. While wearing the bahag was popular among the Igorots, historically and culturally, other ethnic groups in the southern Philippines also wore the bahag.
The discussion of how the bahag worn by the people of Panay differs in length compared to that of the Igorots is another interesting topic. The word bahag appears in Fray Alonso Mentrida, OSA’s masterpiece, the first Visayan Dictionary titled Diccionario de la lengua bisaya, hiligueina y haraya de la isla de Panay in 1637.
According to him, bahag in Spanish means braguero, which in English refers to a type of men’s underwear, similar to briefs or slips. Clearly, the people of Panay Island wore the bahag in the 17th century. This reinforces the illustration in the famous Boxer Codex, believed to have been drawn in the 16th century, showing Visayan males wearing a loincloth, or what we call bahag.
This clearly indicates that males from Panay, including Capiz, wore the bahag as their traditional dress. With the production of abaca on the islands and the introduction of English-made textiles—thanks to British Vice Consul Nicholas Loney—the tradition of wearing the bahag waned.
While the majority of the people of Panay embraced modern clothing influenced by Western countries with the opening of ports to world trade, the indigenous people of the island—now known as the Panay Bukidnons—resisted cultural colonization and continued their resistance through panubok weaving.
In the early 1900s, Interior Secretary Dean Worcester documented the people and places of the islands, including Capiz. There is an undated photo now curated by the Peabody Museum showing a Panay Bukidnon wearing a bahag.
In 1930, the Visayan-English Dictionary by Mill Hill missionary Fr. John Kaufmann referred to the bahag as a loincloth. He provides an example stating that the mananguete (tuba gatherer) wore a bahag, which makes sense for mobility while climbing coconut trees.
Now, how short should a bahag be?
If we use the bahag seen in Worcester’s photo from the 1900s or Kaufmann’s example from the 1930s, would it make a difference from the one recently worn in Hangway sang Capiz? Maybe we shouldn’t be too literal—can you imagine a bahag without the front cloth being shown in public to people of all ages?
Regarding the question of misappropriation, maybe we should let the Panay Bukidnons express their sentiments on whether this was a cultural misappropriation of their panubok tradition. Just because there is no photo of a bahag with a rectangular cloth does not mean it doesn’t exist in Panay Bukidnon tradition. Perhaps the best people to answer this are the elders in Tapaz.
Lastly, I believe the Hangway sang Capiz bahag was inspired by that of the Panay Bukidnon and was not, in any way, an exact replica of the bahag worn by the IP community.
As cultural workers, we strive to preserve both tangible and intangible heritage, as these are the palanublion of the next generation and a source of pride for our people. Let’s help our province slowly build and reclaim our shared identity through meaningful cultural platforms that educate the public.
