ANNO

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APO ANNO: Lost but then Returned;
A Brief Background
John Carl D. Dionisio_S.T.E.M – 12

Apo Anno is believed to be the first leader to be mummified in

Benuet due to his rein marked with peace and prosperity during the 12 th
Century. Further, the Agno River was named after him. One of the most
famous and revered mummies of the Philippines and among the
Kankanaey people from the Cordillera, Apo Anno is seen as revered
ancestor and a demigod according to Kankanaey legend.
According to oral tradition, Apo Anno was born from a human father,
a hunter named Togtogaka, while his mother was Kuyapon, a
Tomongao(mountain spirit) who took on a human form during the time
when Apo Anno was conceived. However, Kuyapon’s father rejected the
child because of his human scent thus he was given to Togtogaka by
Kuyapon to raise the child as he wasn’t accepted by his grandfather.
Togtogaka then took his son and brought him home to his wife whom he
couldn’t bear a child with. Both raised the child as their own and thus
Anno was seen as a gift to the childless couple by the goddess. He was
raised as a brave one and soon became the chieftain of the tribe.
The people of Nabalicong(Buguias, Benguet) have memories passed
down orally throughout the community of the disappearance of Apo
Anno’s preserved body. To support their memories, documents have also
proven the disappearance from somewhere around 1918 to 1920’s when
the Americans started to erect structures in the Benguet region.
 After his disappearance soon after, there are evidences of him being
shipped to the U.S where he was put on exhibits. Sometime in the late
1940’s, Apo Anno was said to be exhibited in a museum in Seattle,
Washington D.C.
In 1984, Ms. Conception Cortes donated the mummy to the National
Museum in Manila. She reported that she purchased the mummy in the
year 1973 and claimed that the mummy belonged to the late Don Antonio
Jimenez of Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
In the year 1998, with the help of the former Municipal Board
Member of Buguias, Mr. Sario Copas(Provincial Board Member that time)
together with the elderly, the preserved remains of Apo Anno was finally
returned to its place at Nabalicong.
May 1999, the mummy was officially sealed away from public view
where he can live out his afterlife and finally at peace.

Source(s):
Biyaheng Budgetarian(Facebook)
via Jhonethan Hernando y Bandioan

Ligaya Caballes; published, March 30, 2012

Photos by Apo Anno.gallery.com; Benguet PGO-TOUR,

and Nabalicong Heritage Park official site