Ibaloi
Ibaloi
The Ibaloi (Benguetano, Benguet Igorot, Ibaloy, Igodor, Inibaloi, Inibaloy, Inibiloi, N abaloi) inhabit central and southern Benguet province and western Nueva Vizcaya Province, Luzon, the Philippines. In 1975 they numbered nearly 89,000. Ibaloi is classified in the Hesperonesian Group of the Austronesian Language Family. Contact with neighboring groups and Christian missionaries and involvement in the national economy have produced considerable local variation in Ibaloi culture.
Houses, generally scattered in fields or on hillsides, are raised about two meters on posts and covered with a pyramidal thatched roof. Subsistence is based on wet rice, tubers, beans, and maize, supplemented occasionally with the meat of pigs, dogs, chickens, water buffalo, horses, and cattle. Descent is bilateral. There is marked differentiation between the rich and the poor, with a considerable concentration of power and influence in the hands of the former. The traditional Ibaloi religion centered on ancestor worship.
Bibliography
Barnett, Milton L. (1967). "Subsistence and Transition of Agricultural Development among the Ibaloi." In Studies in Philippine Anthropology, edited by Mario D. Zamora, 299323. Quezon City: Alemar-Phoenix.