People of Batanes Province!
The people of Batanes are called Ivatan and they share cultural and linguistic affinity with the Tao people of Taiwan. Spanish ancestry also runs in their blood. They speak the Ivatan dialect which is so unlike any other in the Philippines. The Ivatans are sturdy, self-sufficient people with a very strong sense of community. These people trace their roots to prehistoric Formosan immigrants and latter-day Spanish conquistadors. Being out off from Luzon mainland, the Ivatan is of comparatively purer stock. They bear the features of their ancients; the Spaniards aquiline nose and the Formosan's almond eyes. They build their houses with thick walls of stone and lime and thatched with thick layers of cogon. As added precaution during a typhoon, the Ivatan secure homes with a rope net. They do the same for their farm plots to protect their crops of yam and garlic. Ivatans wear a vakul, a headgear used to protect them from rain, wind and sun.