Ligkayan Bigkay

In 1986, Bigkay took part in the Mindanao Peoples Federation Assembly in response to threats of ethnocide. During the assembly, participants resolved to use "Lumad" as a unifying term referring to the 18 ethnolinguistic Indigenous peoples of Mindanao. Bigkay campaigned to preserve the Pantaron Mountain Range, which is home to one of the largest remaining virgin forests in the Philippines and has been a target for logging and mining operations. The range also supplies water to major rivers in Mindanao, including the Mindanao River, Pulangi River, Davao River, Tagoloan River, and major tributaries of Agusan River. In 1994, sought by tribal leader Datu Guibang Apoga of the Talaingod Davao del Norte, she led the Manobo against intrusion by logging company Alcantara and Sons. She organized other female indigenous leaders, forming the Sabokahan to mo Lumad Kamalitanan (Confederation of Lumad Women), and helped expand the Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon Learning Center, which now runs 50 schools for indigenous children. Bigkay also helped create the national Indigenous peoples' organization Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas. == Awards and recognition ==

Bigkay received the University of the Philippines Gawad Tandang Sora award in 2017 for leadership in indigenous peoples' struggle for human rights and dignity. She was hailed as "the Tandang Sora of the countryside… the Mother of the Lumads who inspires the revolution of the Filipino people for national self-determination and freedom." The award is named after Tandang Sora, the "Mother of the Philippine Revolution", as an exemplar of patriotism and service to Filipinos. Posthumous tributes were given to Bigkay and botanist Leonard Co during the Gulay Pa More festival of heritage food and indigenous agriculture held on May 25, 2024, at the University of the Philippines campus in Quezon City. == In art and literature ==

Bigkay and Sharmaine Dausay, Bigkay's grandniece and Sabokohan youth leader, are the subject of the novel We Call Her Ina Bai, published in 2021. Bigkay is featured in the children's book Sayaw ng Pantaron, also published in 2021. In 2023, the images of Bigkay, Whang-Od, Gabriela Silang, and Tandang Sora became part of a mural sponsored by the Bayanihan Center in Southeast Portland. == References ==