<p>
Certainly this is not true of 

the Igorots. They were never slaves to the Spaniards nor did they play the role of slaves. Quite the contrary, Spanish records make it clear that 

they fought for their independence with every means at their disposal for three centuries, and that this resistance to invasion was deliberate, 

self conscious, and continuous. That it was largely successful is indicated by the fact that at the end of the Spanish Regime, when the Cordillera 

Central had been carved up into a dozen military districts, the last Spanish census listed one-third of the estimated mountain population as 

completely independent. 
</p>
<p>
Foreign visitors to the Philippines all during the Spanish regime noticed this Igorot independence. An Italian traveller mentioned it in 1696, a 

Frenchman in 1766, an American in 1842, a German in 1878, and an Englishman in 1896. And it was a cause of great embarrassment to the Spaniards 

themselves. 
</p>


The Igorot Struggle for Independence