Known as the Carrot Man, Jeyrick Sigmaton is from Mountain Province, Philippines. (Photo : Facebook/Edwina T. Bandong)
Hosted by Peabody Awardee Jessica Soho, the Filipino magazine TV show "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho" featured Jeyrick Sigmaton, 21, dubbed the Carrot Man, from the Igorot tribe in the episode aired on Feb. 28, Sunday. Featured as resource persons were Dr. Carolyn Sobritchea, an anthropologist, and Prof. Jimmuel Naval, a historian.
The episode implied that good-looking Igorots with an aquiline nose like the Carrot Man owe their beauty to the British and American missionaries who married the natives of the Cordillera, the mountainous region of Northern Philippines, in the 1900s. In particular, Naval pointed out that Anglican missionaries improved the Igorot race.
This angered some netizens. In an open letter posted on Facebook, Habi Collective noted that it is wrong to "hastily" or "automatically credit sharp noses to American bloodlines."
The open letter questioned the idea that an aquiline nose is inherently better than a round nose and pointed out that some Cordilleran people already had aquiline noses even before they met Caucasian missionaries. To support the latter, the letter included some early 20th Century photographs showing different Cordilleran noses.
In most, if not all, countries, sharp noses are considered aesthetically better than big and flat noses, which is why aesthetic rhinoplasty is a thing. In the Philippines, the Filipino adjective matangos means sharp and pointed and is exclusively used to describe noses, particularly those that are shaped like an eagle's beak.
In his book "The Benguet Igorots: A somatologic study of the live folk of Benguet and Lepanto-Bontoc" published in 1908, American ethnologist Robert Bennett Bean said that there are three types of Igorot noses, which are "aquiline, straight, and australoid." The American era in Mountain Province, where Sigmaton is from, started in 1908.
One thing that needs to be considered in this issue of aquiline noses is that there are many Filipinos mestizophiles, people who revere those who are of mixed descent like they have royal blood and regard those who are of pure ancestry as average ones. This is related to the fact that many Filipinos are xenophiles, people who are attracted to foreign peoples, cultures or customs, making them known for their hospitality.
This why some internet trolls in the Philippines hate the fact that the Carrot Man is said to resemble Alden Richards, the other half of the record-breaking viral duo AlDub. While Richards is a mestizo, Sigmaton is a pure Igorot, a pure Filipino.
Whether or not Caucasians are responsible for the Carrot Man's aquiline nose, what makes the "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho" episode featuring Sigmaton wrong is the part when Naval implied that one race can improve another race through intermarriages. The magazine show has issued an apology through a Facebook post but did not acknowledge the error the historian has made.
Watch the Carrot Man featured in an episode of a magazine show hosted by an award-winning journalist here:
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