William Henry Scott (Sagada Postboy Alumni Edition: People)

William Henry Scott, renowned historian who authoried 15 books in Philippine history including The Discovery of the Igorots, is dead. He was 72 years old.

Scott is a respected authority in Philippine history. His works in chronicling Cordillera culture and history marked the true discovery of the Igorots -- not by the Spanish conquistadores nor by the slangy American occupiers who followed them, but by the Filipinos. Indeed, it marked a self-discovery of the Igorots by the Igorots themselves.

A former professor in the University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, Trinity College, St. Andrew's Theological Seminary, and headmaster of the St. Mary's School in Sagada, Mt. Province, William Henry Scott first came to the Philippines in 1954.

Although he wrote 15 history books and countless scholarly articles on Cordillera history and ethnography and in Philippine Historiography, The Discovery of the Igorots was his greatest contribution to posterity.

In it, Scott capsulized 18 years of work, faithfully following a cold trail of yellowed parchment records in some of the most obscure dustbins of history in the world: the Dominican Province, the Augustinian archives in Villadolid, Spain, the archives of the Indies in Seville and the Archivo Historico Nacional in Madrid.

It wasn't the volume of facts that he unearthed about the Igorots, however, that make his work exceptional. It is not just the work itself (although it was prodiguous) that is remarkable, but the heart behind it - that which faithfully and sensitively captured the deepest of Igorot sentiments. He wrote the story of lthe Igorots from the perspective of one, rather than from the standpoint of an outsider looking in, the "generalized others" to which he properly belonged.

A bird writes a book on all there is to know about being a fish. But to do that, the bird had to shed off his wings and feathers first, dive into the water, grow fins and gills knowing fully that he'll never be the same again. Once a fish, he was able to make the other fish know how beautiful and graceful they looked swimming beneath the silvery waters from a vantage point he himself will never see again. The fish finally had the correct regard of himself.

This was what William Henry Scott did -- a fine job for which all of us Cordillerans by blood and Cordillerans by heart are eternally indebted.

William Henry Scott is the cold water that douses over that archaic and immature thought that only if you are a native-born Cordilleran can you ever truly understand the Igorot heart.

SCOTTY LIVES
by Andrew A. Tauli, M.D., writing from Atlanta, GA
[a reprint from the Jan-Mar. 1994 issue of the IQ]

The sun always rises in the east and sets in the west -- a simple fact of nature that we earthlings take for granted except when we want to know the time of day or to find out where we are. We sleep at night knowing that when morning breaks, the light will greet us because somewhere in the east the sun has risen and is shining.

But the sun did not really rise. And it has never set nor stopped shining. The planet Earth just revolved to allow half the globe to face that fixed source of light while the other half stays in temporary darkness. A cycle that never ends.

Dr. William Henry Scott is NOT the sun eternally shining upon earth. But he is one man I know whose life reversed the path of the sun, so to speak. Unlike the sun, Scotty rose in the West and set in the East. He was born in the U.S. of A, now the most powerful source of "light" in the West. He lies buried in the Philippines, still one of the most powerless countries in the East. Despite the popular 'people power', our country remains in darkness most of the time - literally and otherwise. When will we ever see the light? When will be enlightened?

But wait. We have seen the light. Being the missionary and the visionary that he was, Scotty is the sun. At least to the world of the Igorots, upon whose lives he shone. Scotty's light may have gone out, but those whom he illuminated continue to reflect his rays [or so, we hope].

Dr. Scott is NOT the earth - forever revolving and letting its parts have their turns at the darkness and the light. But he is one person I know who taught a group of people to face the light and enabled them to emerge from the dark. Unlike the earth, Scotty did not endlessly revolve on an imaginary axis. He traveled far and wide, yes; but he always gravitated toward the Cordillera. He became a Cordilleran despite his roots, his color, his religion. Or is it, perhaps, because of them?

But wait.Having 'come from dust and unto dust he has returned', Scotty IS the earth. Or is now part of the earth. At least in that small piece of Sagada where he now rests in peace.

He came as a lay missionary and lived amongst us Igorots in the shadows of our cultural isolation. He leaves us in the brighter lights of enhanced social awareness and cultural wellness.

We know we are Igorots. We have become secure in our identity as such. We are Cordillerans. We are Filipinos. Despite our tribalism, we have reached out to our fellow-Filipinos. Despite our ethnicity, we are in solidarity with the indigenous peoples. Despite our parochialism, we have reached and are scattered in many corners around the globe. Or is it, perhaps, because of them?

Scotty did not only live among us. He was one with us. He came, and he discovered for himself. He saw, and he taught us to discover ourselves. He conquered, not with the weapons of war, but with the power of his mind, the light of his heart, and the brilliance of his works. And he did so with his special brand of laughter [I've heard him laugh so many times], and his distinctive sense of humor [cutting sometimes, healing most times].

With the grace of God and the tolerance of Kabunyan, he shared with us his conquest of the darkness and the shadows that had somehow wrapped and clouded our lives. He chronicled our past and made us appreciate our present. He showed us the light at the end of the dark tunnel and gave us a glimpse of our future.

He leaves, and for a moment we cry. For a short while, we cry, not because he is gone but because we have lost the chance to know and understand him better. We cry because we failed to say, "Thank you, Scotty, for sharing your life with us and showing us the way to our [cultural] salvation as a people."

I write from the land of his birth. I had been here for two months - on a journey of professional renewal - when I heard that Scotty died. My friend [Norman Killip] called me from New Jersey that the N.J. Igorots had just attended a memorial service for the late Dr. Scott. I said to myself, "Scotty was never late. He was way ahead of his time. Despite his age, he was early for his appointment with his Maker." When I put the phone down, tears filled my eyes.

What an irony. The day before the phone call, I had finally finished my letter to Scotty thanking him for what he had shared with and done for me. His testimony in my behalf led to my being awarded the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship by the U.S. government [here at Emory U School of Public Health, Atlanta]. Now Scotty will never read my letter of thanks because [Billy Baldo], our favorite postman [in Sagada] cannot forward it to Scotty's new permanent address [NPA]. Again, I cried. And blinked back my tears. Life has to go on.

Scotty, you will continue to live through those who were reborn to the light because of you. You did not die, Scotty. A part of us did. And knowing that, we will "ask not for whom the bells toll; they toll for us."

Yes, Scotty, "to thine sweet eternal rest you've gone." No one deserves it more than you do. Even our Maker had to rest on the seventh day after creating the world. And while you rest, we must not. There is still much to do and to undo. So much to learn and teach, so much to lose and gain, so much to overcome. We cannot solve the problems of the world. We can only commit and share what little we can towards caring for, enabling, and making a difference to ourselves, our families, our neighbors, and to the community and environment that sustain our lives on earth.

That will be our way of saying, "Thank you, Scotty. We are eternally grateful that once upon a time, you were with us, one of us. We will struggle. We will overcome. For you, for others, for ourselves. The sun has set. Tomorrow it will rise again."