Tattooing used to be an important practice of the indigenous peoples in the mountain hinterlands of Cordillera, among them, the Ibalois, the Kankanaeys, and the Kalanguyas. But tattooing—batek (Kalinga), fatek (Bontoc), or chaklag (Ifugao)—is now a lost art even among the peoples who pioneered it in the country.
The designs of the tattoos take different forms and each design has different interpretations and meanings. The designs can be about nature (e.g., mountains, rivers, trees); animals (e.g., lizards, snakes, centipedes); geometric designs (eg., triangles, curves, lines, diamonds, squares); and celestial objects (e.g. moon, star).
According to literature, the design and amount of tattoo a man wore is directly proportional to his success and rank as warrior. Among the Bontoc Igorots, the chaklag design indicated that the man wearing it had killed an enemy. Among the Kalingas, successful warriors (maingor) wore striped design at the back of their hands and wrists to signify their first kill.
More successful warriors wore more elaborate designs, comprising of khaman (head-axes), ufug (centipede scales) and bodies of gayaman (centipede), which were believed to be spiritually-charged symbols. The most successful warriors wore centipede designs on their cheeks. The warrior of the highest rank had anthropomorph tattooed just above his navel and small crosses adorning his face.
The tattoos on the women were primarily for aesthetic beauty. Generally called fattong, meaning, “to put on”, the body tattoos on the women served as permanent upper garment, the design of which often reflected their relationship with their environment.
(Source: The Manila Times – Tattooed in the Past by Sherma E. Benosa)
In the above pictures you can see Mrs. Natividad B. Sugguiyao, Provincial Director of the National Commission on Indigenous People explaining her tattoos to me. Mrs. Sugguiyao is very proud of her Kalinga heritage and decided a few years ago to have the traditional Kalinga tattoos tattooed on her body.