The Itneg (exonym "Tinguian" or "Tingguian") are an Austronesian indigenous peoples from the upland province of Abra and Nueva Era, Ilocos Norte in northwestern Luzon, Philippines.
The Itneg live in the mountainous area of Abra in northwestern Luzon who descended from immigrants from Kalinga, Apayao, and the Northern Kankana-ey.
The Tingguians are further divided into nine distinct subgroups which are the Adasen, Mabaka, Gubang, Banao, Binongon, Danak, Moyodan, Dawangan, and Inlaud/Illaud.
During pre-colonial times, the Itneg mostly lived near the coasts of Northern Luzon, where they interacted closely with the Ilocanos.
[2] The Itneg have faced ethnic discrimination and violence, with the era of Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos being a well-documented period of particular violence,[3] mostly linked to the infringement of the Marcos crony linked Cellophil Resources Corporation on forest resources in traditionally Itneg lands.
[5] Wealth and material possessions (such as Chinese jars, copper gongs called gangsa, beads, rice fields, and livestock) determine the social standing of a family or person, as well as the hosting of feasts and ceremonies.
[5] The traditional leadership in the Tangguian community is held by panglakayen (old men), who compose a council of leaders representing each purok or settlement.
[5] The women dress in a wrap-around skirt (tapis) that reaches to the knees and fastened by an elaborately decorated belt.
Spirit structures include balawa built during the say-ang ceremony, sangasang near the village entrance, and aligang containing jars of basi.
[5] In The Inhabitants of the Philippines (1900), the author describes two subgroups of the Banao people (itself a subgroup of the Itneg or "Tinguian" people), the Busao and the Burik people, as having elaborate tattoos, though he also notes that the custom was in the process of disappearing by the time he described them:[7][8] "The Busao Igorrotes who live in the North of Lepanto, tattoo flowers on their arms, and in war-dress wear a cylindrical shako made of wood or plaited rattan, and large copper pendants on their ears.
The Burik Igorrotes tattoo their body in a curious manner, giving them the appearance of wearing a coat of mail.
Some examples of their weapons and implements are the lance or spear (pika), shield (kalasag), head axe (aliwa).
They believe in spirits and deities, the greatest of which they believe to be Kadaklan who lives up in the sky and who created the earth, the moon, the stars, and the sun.