Mateo Cariño was an Ibaloi chieftain who owned the land that was to become

Baguio Baguio ( , ), officially the City of Baguio ( ilo, Siudad ti Baguio; fil, Lungsod ng Baguio), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...

. He led a successful revolt against the Spanish garrison in La Trinidad and was proclaimed the ''Capitan Municipal'' of Baguio by President

Emilio Aguinaldo Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (: March 22, 1869February 6, 1964) was a Filipino revolutionary, statesman, and military leader who is the youngest president of the Philippines (1899–1901) and is recognized as the first president of the Philippine ...

Background

He owned vast tracts of land which covered the area which would later be known as

as early as the

Spanish colonial period Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

. Titles over the land were given to him by the Spanish colonial government in exchange for his

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Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. His surname was adopted after his conversion. The land was a ''rancheria'' known as ''Kafagway'' and was the residence of the Cariño clan and the rest of the Ibaloi community. In 1901, Cariño was selected as representative of Baguio to chief executive of the US Insular Government over the Philippines. Cariño reportedly gave

, President of the

Revolutionary Government of the Philippines A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

who was fleeing to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, refuge. This is said to have cause the American colonizers who took over the Philippines to issue military

decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...

s that mandated the confiscation of Cariño's lands. Cariño involved himself in a legal dispute seeking for the voiding of the decrees until his death in 1908. He had a favorable posthumous legal victory when the US Supreme Court recognized his "native title" over his lands which was established through testimonies that the land was utilized, owned, and occupied by indigenous populations.

Legacy

The case where Cariño had a legal victory would later serve as the basis for the eponymous "Mateo Cariño" which concerns indigenous rights over

ancestral lands Ancestral domain or ancestral lands refers to the Lands inhabited by indigenous peoples, lands, territories and resources of indigenous peoples, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The term differs from indigenous land rights, Aboriginal titl ...

. On August 16, 2010, the city council of Baguio passed a

resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...

which allotted an vacant area at Burnham Park to a monument honoring Cariño and the Ibaloi people.

Personal life

Mateo Cariño was married to Bayosa Ortega with whom he had nine children. Bayosa was the only daughter of Enrique Ortega, and the granddaughter of Apulog Minse, both ''baknang''s. Bayosa owned large tracts of land in Kafagway, bought from her ancestors wealth based on gold and cattle trading. Mateo's father was Mawmaw. Mateo expanded the gold trade, introduced rice cultivation and large-scale livestock trading to become the richest ''baknang''. Mateo's older brother was Juan Cariño Oraá, who became the deputy governor of

Benguet Benguet (), officially the Province of Benguet ('';'' ; pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Benguet; ilo, Probinsia ti Benguet; ), is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the islan ...

, then a subprovince of

Mountain Province Mountain Province is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc. Mountain Province was formerly referred to as ''Mountain'' in some foreign references. The name is usually short ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carino, Mateo Igorot people Converts to Roman Catholicism 1908 deaths 1841 births