Teddy Baguilat - A Life in Public Service
Teddy Baguilat is one of those rare individuals that found his calling very early in life. He traces his first inkling of serving his community back to his elementary days in Kiangan, Ifugao watching his classmates who went to school barefoot or in slippers while he had the privilege of walking to school in shoes -from that point, at 13 years old, he decided to dedicate his life to serving his people.
Teddy Baguilat is a member of both the Tuwali and Gaddang Indigenous groups from Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya he has been a leader in his community in Ifugao for the last 30 years. He was elected as the youngest councilor in the Philippines at the age of 25 in 1992 and served as the Mayor of Kiangan, his hometown, from 1995-2001. From 2001 to 2019 Baguilat served intermittently as Governor and Congressman of the Province of Ifugao.
Today he is running to be one of the first Indigenous Senators of the Philippines and the first Igorot to be elected to the Senate. As someone who comes from a cultural minority in the country he seeks to bring the struggles of Indigenous communities from north to south to the forefront of national interest and discussion. More importantly he wants to share the Indigenous values of caring for the land and caring for community to a country whose values for nature and community are fast being eroded.
This is Teddy Baguilat, Indigenous leader, Ifugao, Cordilleran, and a proud Filipino servant to this nation.
https://www.teddybaguilat.com/
IG: @baguilatteddy_ (https://www.instagram.com/baguilatteddy_/)
Twitter: @TeddyBaguilatJr
FB: https://web.facebook.com/teddybaguilat2022
This episode was produced by JP Alipio and Tomonari Nakayama, Sound design and editing by Tomonari Nakayama
