FLOATING "red pyramids" in an endless stairway of giant green terraces on rolling mountains greet tourists in the municipality of Mayoyao in Ifugao, 41 km away from the more known town of Banaue.

The virtually unknown Mayoyao has a land area of 33,556 hectares, a population of about 16,000, and is just one of the 11 towns in Ifugao province in Northern Philippines. But if you ask the townsfolk, Mayoyao's rice terraces rival those that can be found in Banaue.

Cozily snuggled in the bosom of the central Cordillera mountain ranges, Mayoyao may, indeed, own the more majestic yet undiscovered rice terraces. Complementing these structures, considered the "8th wonder of the world," are the "red pyramids" or the Mayoyao native houses -- seemingly planted on the terraces along with the rice stalks.

The native houses nowadays are built with red galvanized iron (GI) sheets (yero) for their roofing, which give them the distinctive red color instead of the traditional brown cogon roofing. Thus, red is now said to be the color of Mayoyao.

Nevertheless, agamang roofs are still held tightly together with gilder, wood made out of red lawan.

The house granary can be found at the top portion of the house (imagine it as an attic of sorts). It is made in such a way that rodents and other pests cannot enter it.

A tetrahedronal structure perched on four wooden posts, the agamang was once likened by anthropologist Otley Beyer to the igloo of the Alaskan Eskimos.

The house, erected by fitting carefully shaped parts together, prompted Beyer to describe it as the first prefabricated house in the world, since it could be disassembled and transferred to another location.

Bobby Bongayon, Mayoyao's tourist guide, also explained that no iron nail was used to put these parts together. The house, however can withstand the strongest typhoons. Strong winds pass through the area of least resistance, and that, Bongayon said, is under the house.

The town's location along the majestic Cordillera ranges also protects it from strong winds from typhoons.

Bongayon related that only the sturdiest Philippine woods are used to make the native house. The posts are made out of molave, which can last for three generations.

The beams are made out of solid planks of narra-up to about 8" x 12"- while the floor and front walls are also made of solid narra four inches thick and about 30 to 40 inches in width.

For newly married Ifugao couples, building their own native house is a community affair. They call on relatives and neighbors to help in the construction.

The molave and narra lumbers are gathered from a forest 50 km away. Pinewood and other varieties of lumber to be used in the construction are gathered from a nearby forest and are carried on foot.

"The kind of wood used in construction -- such as narra -- enhances the social status of the owners," Bongayon noted.

The yard of the house, typically measuring 40 square meters, is paved with solid flat stones of granite gathered from a nearby river.

The flat stones are subjected to fire, cut and shaped. Then these are carefully pieced together like one giant jigsaw puzzle. Such skills are just some of the town's sources of pride.

A skillfully paved yard also symbolized a family's social stature.

Mayoyaowons are "very ceremonious people." They time their rituals according to their agricultural calendar upon which their livelihood revolves. It is in their houses where many ceremonies are held.

The first native ritual typically conducted in the house is called hokgop meaning "house warming." This lasts for five days. Bongayon said up to 10 pigs are butchered for this purpose. A large portion of the pork is served to relatives and neighbors. These portions are called togma and bhangar. The nearer the kinship, the bigger the togma.

Mayoyaowons believe this would be the best way to preserve family ties and keep close ties with the clan. In the days when Ifugao natives were engaged in tribal wars, such ties ensured the survival of the warrior and his family members.

Despite the seeming quaintness of the native house, it could surprisingly house up to 10 members of a family. When a child reaches his or her 10th birthday, the boy is sent to a common house for boys and a girl is sent