That’s odd, but understandable. You might have searched only one of the blogs. It’s right here which was originally here. I’ve been consolidating my blogs lately, because people get lost in the cloggy pipes of the internets sometimes.

Want more?

About Marky Cielo: here, here, here and here.

About Gwen Garci: here which was originally somehere else. This was also an entry I contributed to another blog.

I should only be interested in (celebrity) Igorots who find no shame in publicly admitting they are Igorots. I do research first to ensure na Igorot nga sila. I don’t support poseurs.Have I been guarding against falsified ethnicity? Read this, too.

And about half-hearted Igorots. Yes, I’m not exactly happy of how Paulo informed the viewers that he is Igorot. Hindi ito kusang loob and napilitan pa nga siyang sabihin. StarStruck is a series of tests, and he somehow failed in a area that mattered to me. Marky accepted my challenge headon. As for Paulo, the idea na manggagamit siya kumbaga lingers on kasi kung kailan naipit saka pumiyok. Paulo saying he is an Igorot should have been expressed in the same as how the others showed that they are Kapampangan or Bisaya or laking Tondo. At least man lang kahit ganon kababaw na pagtanggap magawa niya. Pero katulad mo, mas masaya ako kung mabigyang halaga rin niya ang pagiging Igorot lampas pa sa paghakot ng boto lang.

Masyadong affected? But then again, you should be extra careful with every word you type. Honestly, I found that downward sarcastic.

Claim Igorot roots for votes… then there goes the problem with the fuss regarding ethnicity. It would make him appear as if he were a poseur. Say you’re Igorot and you get votes. “Please” the people. That’s merely like having the IMSCF Syndrome..localized version. If the “Igorotness”(or claiming Igorot roots) will be the basis of votes, I wouldn’t be surprised if one day, some non-Igorots will falsify their ethnicity or worse, try to go “indigenous” for the sake of votes(regardless if they depict the culture wrongly or not). But mostly likely if any of the two would happen, the latter has the bigger possibility.

I tried digging your blog entries but I can nowhere see any entry where you mentioned about Paulo being part Spanish or having roots from Samar.

Paulo joined StarStruck. Nalaman ko na Igorot siya. Gusto ko siya tulungan. My sphere of influence is limited to my circle of kakilala and those who visit my StarStruck blog. In so far as my blog is concerned, I can, if I wish, give good reviews about him and downplay the other contenders. I did write about his being part Spanish and that his father traces his roots from Samar. Pero hanggang dun lang ang alam kung about those details.

Now when it comes to nan am-ammok ay Igorot, I could text them and say, ibotos tako iman tay kailian tako siya. Remember that as an artista search, the results rely on 50% talent and 50% audience votes.
The Igorot part is my area of greater influence. For Marky, I did talk about his Butuan background as the information reached me.

That means I’m not stuck up with my being Igorot. But you see, if Paulo wants to convince the potential Igorot voters to vote for him, the easiest way for him to do is say on TV na Igorot siya. Yun lang naman ang point dito eh.

He wasn’t able to give a convincing answer to Lorna’s question which was a question I asked myself and wanted Paulo to answer. How Lorna became the spokesperson is for you to figure out. Tapos nalagay si Paulo sa bottom four sa Sunday na yon. Lack of votes? Possibly. That was also the Votestruck week where it was obvious that Paulo did not have a throng of screaming hometown fans. Pano mo nga ba tutulungan ang isang taong gustong maging artista sa isang lugar na hindi mahilig sa artista?

The next Sunday, he was the first to be called. Did his votes increase? Possibly. Did some Igorots halfheartedly vote for him to support his halfhearted answer? Possibly. That Sunday, he went like, Nagpapasalamat din ako sa kakailiyan sa Cordillera. You see, he was now able to connect with the Igorot audience.

He can still connect with potential voters from Cagayan and Samar. Now, I guess it’s your turn to help him kasi you’re not into this Igorot thingy… Baka jan ka pwede makatulong.

Marinel R. Cruz said (here) that Marky’s votes might have been boosted by ukay-ukay support. Plus, Paulo’s Mom is from Northern Sagada where a lot have become rich because of ukay-ukay. TXT votes require load and that means financial backing.

Overpass, not Malcolm Square:

As was said, there were only curious onlookers at Malcolm. If you know street theater, the overpass is a better choice.

Masyado ka yata affected. Ang point dito, the closer the connection to the target voters, the more votes you are likely to get.

I’m still halfway downloading the video… but as I understand Lorna’s question(from what was posted on Bill Bilig’s blog) it’s “Lorna: Paulo, mula nung nag-start ang search hindi mo ipinagmamalaki na you are a half-Igorot.”. That does not certainly inquire about his roots. There was an early assumption. If I were in his place, baka matataranta at magugulat at matatameme ako. There’s too much fuss about the “Igorot”. Isn’t it that his father is a mestizo… maybe they should also ask him about the mestizoness… or being part Spanish?? Knowing the Filipino, if you discuss about your non-indigenous heritage, they “defaulty” label you as elitist; if you don’t mention much about your “indigenous” heritage, they’ll see you as someone with “inferiority complex.” I find it rather ironic. Why hasn’t Marky talked much about his “Bisaya-ness” when we know for a fact that he was born to a Bisaya father and he was born it Butuan(some sources would cite it as Iligan). Is he not proud being a non-Cebuano Bisaya? But then, I would not accuse him of not being equally proud. He must not be that acculturated to it just as much as Paulo is more accuturated to the “mainstream” culture, most likely because the place where he grew up is now “mainstream” dominated.

There’s just too much fuss about ethnicity.

There was this GMA episode where they featured Marky going to Sagada…. Knowing that Sagada is a Kankanaey-dominated area, why did he communicate in Ilocano with the crowd when he can speak Kankanaey? But then I don’t condemn him for that. I would not even care if he used Tagalog or English.

Yes, it’s nice to see our kailians on national tv… but sometimes, we go overboard regarding ethnicity.

** So the question remains: Why should we feel awkward about discussing our roots?

Why is it not cool to talk about it?

Ethnocentrism? Uhm, I find it hard to believe one can respect and express genuine interest in other cultures if one can’t respect and express genuine interest in one’s own culture first.

On the other hand, talking about being Igorot is a way of expanding one’s self. And that becomes more important if you are a public figure — a struggling artista who wants to court my votes.

And I do vote for Paulo. He has talent. And he is trying to connect. Two video clips (or more) a day = 70 votes. Plus online votes. I’m just trying to push it a bit further.

** On making a big deal out of it.

As a private individual, you make decisions within your comfort zone. That is not a crime, the last time I checked. And I have heard someone argue along the lines you have stated — not the part where they don’t want to discuss it because they’d blush like a ripe tomato afterwards, but the part that’s similar to I’m a vegetarian what’s the rest of the world got to do with it?

So convince me once more, what’s the third way that’s neither highland pride nor lowland prejudice?