IT IS early morning of February 26, 2009. Felipe Cornelio motions to National Artist Ben Cabrera to be seated. Cornelio, the man in leather shoes, jeans, collared shirt, and baseball cap is a mambunong, or an Ibaloy ritual specialist ? a shaman, if you will. He looks up to the sky and to the black pig at his feet and lets the spirits of the land know that Bencab, who has built his house upon this land, is making this offering to them. In the same breath he also calls upon Jesus Christ to bless this sacrifice.

The mambunong steps back as his assistants drive a wooden stake into the pig?s heart. The mambunong pours tapuy or rice beer into a glass, chants over it, and hands the glass to Bencab, motioning for him to empty it.

Suddenly, gongs are heard from the street and a group of Ifugao settlers in their traditional regalia enters the museum grounds. They are elders from Hungduan and Kiangan, Ifugao, who settled in Asin, Tuba and are part of the woodcarving community here. They are somewhat dismayed to see that the pig was slaughtered without them.

The Ibaloys and Ifugaos gather on the margins of the ritual space and amicably negotiate their ceremonial rights and rites. ?We came here ready to perform our ritual blessing for Bencab,? says Erlinda Abaggue. ?But the Ibaloy spirits dominate here,? counters one of the Ibaloys. ?Anyway, we are all the same here. Ifugao, Ibaloy, Igorot, whatever. All the same!?

Erlinda says with a smile, ?Yes, we?re all people here, of course, but our rituals are not the same and we must do ours too.? Bencab quietly and gently intercedes and says diplomatically to the Ifugaos, ?We are all migrants on Ibaloy land here, including me.?

Bencab concedes that majority of the objects in his collection of Cordilleran art are from the province of Ifugao, and it would only be right for them to be consecrated by their own people. So he asks them whether they would be willing to bless the artifacts in the museum. This is somewhat problematic without a pig. Nevertheless, Erlinda tells him that they can chant, play their goings, dance and offer baya, another kind of rice beer. Later, Bencab decides that this should be done properly. He invites the members of the Asin-Ifugao community to return on Easter Sunday for a proper ritual with a pig and chickens. For now, he asks them to stay and be part of the festivities.

With everyone satisfied, the Ibaloys proceed to prepare the meat for cooking, and the mambunong picks up the liver with the bile sac attached, and explains the reading to Bencab. The liver is large and its color is vivid. This is good. Bencab will not be exposed to bad luck. There are seven small lobes on the edges of the liver, also signs of prosperity. The liver has a hidden fold in it, like a secret pocket. Bencab will be wealthy and his good fortune will stay with him.

Then the mambunong picks up a bowl into which some of the pig?s blood has been collected, and anoints with blood the doorways and windows, and the frames, sides, or the walls of each painting in the museum, chanting to the spirits and Jesus Christ all the while.

When they re-emerge into the sunlight, the mambunong anoints Bencab?s cheeks and head with pig?s blood. Then, Romeo Buyagaw, then mumbaki or Ifugao ritual specialist, cries out in a powerful voice whilst waving a bundle of purple dongla leaves at the museum. He calls on the spirits to shower blessings on every person present, especially Bencab and his family. Then the men strike the gongs loudly and in a line, the men and women dance through the museum, stopping before the wall of sculpted figures and in the Cordillera Gallery to chant and dance some more.

The food is spread out on the table and dozens of people living around the museum come to partake of the feast. Bencab joins both the Ifugaos and then the Ibaloys in playing the gongs and dancing the traditional festive dances. Every one is happy.

When Bencab bought this land from the Bontoc-Ibaloy Cabluyon-Kiwas family, he did so with the intention of building his dreams. With the traditional rituals, Bencab firmly plants his roots within the communities living here. In their eyes, he has simply done the right thing. ?These are the things we?re missing these days,? Bencab says. ?It?s original to us. To me, [these rituals are] about the most basic aspects of human nature: fertility, acceptance of the power of nature, the influence of ancestors, community.?

The following day another kind of ritual takes place in the museum. The building and the grounds overflow with Bencab?s guests. The museum fills with opera music sung by tenor Glenn Gaerlan and mezzo-soprano Mia Protacio. Speeches are made, led by Rico Hizon. A constant stream of delicious food emerges from the busy kitchen of Café Sabel below. The wine flows freely. Many of the artists whose works hang on the walls of the museum are here. Their presence, too, consecrates the art that comprises Bencab?s personal collection.

Bencab?s collection of contemporary art brings together the works of major Philippine artists from post-World War II to the present. No other place in the country so far has the same scope and breadth of more than 50 years of Philippine art, put together through Bencab?s intimate knowledge of the period and his close friendships with the artists, including those in the Maestro Gallery.

A coterie of Baguio artists are represented here, chiefly Roberto Villanueva, Santiago Bose, and Willy Magtibay. But Bencab is also interested in the younger generation of artists and the growth of their work. Jordan Mang-Osan, John Frank Sabado, Roland Bay-an, and Demi del Rosario all render Cordilleran imagery and traditional motifs in their paintings. Rishab, Kawayan de Guia, Mark Dungaw Tandoyog, and Leonard Aguinaldo transcend this repetition. Their works in the museum reflect the progression of their individual styles and visions. Art critic Alfredo Roces remarks in his blog, however, that the contemporary art ?pales in comparison? to the stunning collection of Cordilleran art.

Bencab?s interest in what he calls ?our original art? was triggered by an exhibition in the 1960s set up by American-Ifugao anthropologist William Beyer, the only son of Otley Beyer, who is considered the Father of Philippine Anthropology. The trading relationship between William Beyer and Bencab was founded on trust and a shared love for Cordilleran objects, and this is now carried on between the artist and William?s son, Henry Beyer.

Henry Beyer and Bencab walk through the museum identifying the provenance of individual pieces, many of which came from the Beyer father and son. According to Beyer, Bencab is different from other collectors. He observes that while most collectors will fork out money for a 300-year-old woodcarving, Bencab usually chooses form and beauty over age. In Beyer?s observations of their long collector-dealer relationship, what seems to matter to Bencab is that the pieces he buys should have been at least used, once a part of somebody?s ritual life and thereby imbued with spirit and story.

Aficionados of antiques consider Bencab?s collection to be flawed because some of the pieces are, as they put it, ?bagong luma,? not exactly old enough to be considered authentic. ?That?s beside the point,? says Beyer, ?because these are living traditions, living crafts. So of course the people are making new things and they are also beautiful!?

?These are not just antiques,? Bencab posits emphatically. ?These are works of art too.? Bencab?s choices in collecting acknowledge and give value to recent innovations and present-day creative talents of Cordilleran artists where other collectors, perhaps unknowingly, relegate Cordilleran culture to a frozen, distant past. Likewise, Bencab?s decisions to honor the traditional rituals give testament to his respect and admiration for the peoples of the Cordilleras, whose cultures continue to thrive and change, and in whose communities he has chosen to build his museum and grow his forest.

Across from the museum Bencab meticulously oversees the revival of a forest that once stood there. Hidden in the underbrush are the gigantic stumps of pine trees that were felled before Bencab bought the land. New pine seedlings have been planted around these stumps and all over the hill facing the museum. Bencab?s knowledge of the land is intimate. He knows which trees shelter beautiful, wild orchids in their high branches and he notes the emergence of new leaves throughout his property. Through this daily work in the land, his art, and his ritual engagement with the community, Bencab makes his place in the world here, in the quiet of Asin, Tuba. ?

The Bencab Museum is located on Km. 6, Asin Road, Tuba, Benguet. It is a 15-minute drive from Baguio City Center. The museum is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Last admission is at 4:30 p.m. The general admission fee is P100. For students and senior citizens with a valid ID it is P80.