Probe launched over Benguet's stolen mummies

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The government’s tribal rights body, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) is probing proof on ‘stolen rights’ of the indigenous peoples in Kabayan town in Benguet over stolen mummies, which is part of their cultural heritage.

Putting blame on the national government as the “thief” of the mummies after it declared them as “national treasures,” Kabayan Councilor Salvador Araoco said “it seems like the  national government stole the rights of the municipality as the rightful owner of their mummies.”

During the Marcos regime, some mummies went on missing, some until today.


NCIP Regional Director Sancho Buquing, who claims he only heard of the issue recently, vowed to probe on the missing mummies and the alleged stolen rights of the people.

NCIP, he said, will investigate the apparent lack of consultation of the IPs on the declaration of mummies as national treasures.

Buquing said, however, that they will also assess the competence of the Kabayan IPs if they could protect their own cultural heritage. He said they want to avoid the deterioration of the heritage once the rights will be returned to the IPs of the municipality.

This comes as the Cordillera Tourism Department ask Benguet folks if they will allow the mummified body of the great “Apo Anno” as tourism heritage or keep it for themselves.

Benguet folks, however, seemed to have differing views..

Buquing said if they will look at the economic effect of commercializing Apo Anno, “it will contribute a lot.”  

He added that mainstreaming culture should be limited for the preservation and protection of cultural heritage.

Apo Anno’s body was stolen in 1918 and was believed to be exhibited overseas.

Benguet folk reportedly tried to locate the mummy but they failed to find it.

In 1967, when it rained continuously for 45 days, the people of Buguias vowed to locate the body of Apo Anno.

In 1998, negotiations started for the retrieval of the mummy and in 1999, Anno’s body was brought back to its resting place in Nabaligcong, Buguias.

Apo Anno is a well–known cultural image of Benguet because of his great deeds when he was alive as a great hunter, traveler and a tribal mediator.