Peacefully tucked
in the lush highlands of South Cotabato, about a thousand feet above sea level,
Lake Sebu, with its calm waters and towering waterfalls, provides guests with
more than jaw-dropping natural attractions.
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| The Late Lang Dulay of South Cotabato. Photo Credit: NCCA |
Every day, mist-laden mornings and blooming lotus flowers signal a new day for the T’boli people, the original indigenous settlers of Lake Sebu, to preserve their sacred T’nalak cloth—which is known for being designed with patterns revealed in visions, thus earning them the nickname "the Dream Weavers.”
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| Every morning, countless lotus flowers blooms in Lake Sebu |
In a place where a
lasting heritage persists through each woven creation, Lake Sebu also becomes a
land where National Living Treasures, or GAMABA awardees, now numbering four
esteemed individuals, have preserved and celebrated age-old artistry.
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| Tourists can rent T'boli traditional clothes and have their photo taken with the lotus flowers |
It goes without
saying that the history, perseverance, and character of Lake Sebu are told
through its many ripples and interlaced threads.
What is the GAMABA?
The Philippine
government honors an individual or group of artists with the Gawad sa
Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA), or the National Living Treasures Award, for their
contributions to preserving the nation's intangible cultural heritage.
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| The organizers of the World Ikat Textiles Symposium poses with the new GAMABA awardees |
As published on the
website of the Official
Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines, the official
journal of the Philippines, Executive Order #236 states that pursuant to the
Republic Act no.7355, or the Manlilikha ng Bayan Act, "the Gawad sa
Manlilikha ng Bayan is conferred upon a Filipino citizen or group of Filipino
citizens engaged in any traditional art uniquely Filipino, whose distinctive
skills have reached such a high level of technical and artistic excellence and
have been passed on to and widely practiced by the present generations in
his/her community with the same degree of technical and artistic
competence."
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| GAMABA awardees Samporonia Madanlo, from Caraga, Davao Oriental and Barbara Ofong and Rosie Sula joins a discussion during the Ikat World Symposium. |
Since the first
GAMABA award was given in 1993 to its first batch of recipients—Ginaw Bilog, a
member of the Hanuno Mangyan community in Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro, who was
honored for his dedication to preserving the Mangyan script; Masino Intaray,
hailing from Brooke's Point, Palawan, for championing the preservation of the
traditional music and literature of Palawan; and Samaon Sulaiman of Mamasapano,
Maguindanao, who was credited for his mastery in playing the indigenous kutyapi
instrument—there are now a total of twenty-five GAMABA awardees, with four
coming from Lake Sebu.
Lake Sebu’s Proud
GAMABAs
In 1998, the late Lang
Dulay (1928-2015) earned the National Living Treasures distinction along
with Salinta Monon, an Inabal weaver from the Tagabawa-Bagobo community in
Bansalan, Davao del Sur. Dulay then became the first person from Lake Sebu to
receive a GAMABA award.
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| A work of Lang Dulay in display at the Ikat World Symposium in Baguio City |
Considered as a
cultural bearer of the T'boli's traditional T'nalak weaving, a dyed fabric made
from refined abaca fiber, Lang Dulay first started weaving at a young age of 12
years old.
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| The last finished work of Lang Dulat. You can see her signature at the end of the T'nalak cloth |
Having created over
a hundred designs, many of which drew inspiration from her dreams, Dulay
remained true to her heritage by exclusively utilizing traditional patterns. In
the true spirit of a GAMABA honoree, Lang Dulay established a Manlilikha ng
Bayan Center at Lake Sebu—now called the Lang Dulay Weaving Center—to pass her
craft and expertise on to future generations, including her grandkids.
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| Sebulan Dulay, Lang Dulay's daughter in law continued the T'nalak weaving legacy of Lang Dulay. |
After Lang Dulay
passed away in 2015, her daughter-in-law, Sebulan Dulay, who is now in her 70s succeeded
in becoming the new T'nalak master weaver. Sebulan Dulay, who has been a weaver
for over 60 years, is also a skilled musician, performing traditional T'boli
music by playing instruments like the 'hegelung' and 'kulintang'
for visitors at the Lang Dulay Weaving Center alongside her son Charlie on the
small drums (Tnonggong), as her grandchildren accompany the music
with a T'boli dance performance.
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| Charlie Dulay showing off the last T’nalak cloth woven by the late Lang Dulay. |
The last of the
late Lang Dulay’s finished T'nalak cloth remains in the possession of her
family while many of her surviving works are either on display at the National
Museum or in the hands of collectors.
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| A few meters away from the Lang Dulay Weaving Center, one can visit the T’nalak Gallery which houses several T’nalak designs curated by National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Commissioner Reden Ulo. |
Nine cultural
bearers received the National Living Treasures Award in 2023, tripling the
previous high of three in the years 1993, 2000, 2004, and 2016. Three of the
newly-minted GAMABAs were from Lake Sebu; Barbara Ofong, Rosie Sula and Bundos
Fara.
In a magical turn
of events, this writer, in a span of a month, was able to meet all three GAMABA
awardees from Lake Sebu. During the World Ikat Textiles Symposium in Baguio
from December 3-6, I had the opportunity to be up close and personal with both
Barbara Ofong and Rosie Sula that I was able to have a selfie taken with them.
Known as the WITS,
the World Ikat Textiles Symposium has been held yearly since its inaugural
event in 2016, held in London. It serves as a platform to promote the heritage
craft of ikat, an age-old dyeing technique widely applied in Southeast Asia and
other parts of the world to design textiles and other woven cloth.
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| Visitors marvel at the Ye Kumu cloth woven by Barbara Ofong. The Ye Kemu design is a ceremonial T’nalak cloth normally worn during weddings. |
Given that the T'boli weavers not only painstakingly follow the ikat process but also treat it as a spiritual act; in designing patterns they usually relate to their surroundings and family stories, it was a touching gesture that the organizers invited their master weavers and GAMABA recipients to join their fellow weavers from the Philippines and the rest of the world.
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| . Rosie Sula showing support for the booth of the Mandaya weavers and the weaving center of fellow GAMABA recipient Fu Yabing at the bazaar of the World Ikat Textiles Symposium in Baguio. |
Aunty Rosie Sula,
as she is affectionately called in her community, is a tireless cultural bearer
and worker who received the GAMABA award for her cultural skills, which include
being a T'boli chanter, musician, poet, dancer, and composer. Among cultural
scholars and enthusiasts around the world, she is perhaps well known for her mastery
of reciting the “Tudbulul,” an epic T'boli
chant.
Although unlike
Lang Dulay, Sula was not a master weaver, she remains steadfast in advocating
for the preservation and promotion of T'boli culture by founding the Libun
Hulug Matul, or the Tribal and Women Empowerment, which comprise of women
weavers and cultural practitioners from her community in Lake Sebu. She
is also an active educator, having helped establish the School of Indigenous
Knowledge and Traditions, also in Lake Sebu.
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| 2024 GAMABA Awardee Barbara Ofong |
Barbara Ofong, a
master T’nalak weaver for more than 50 years, is credited with creating more
than 90 designs, each with its own story and significance. As she told us on
our second meeting in her home in Lake Sebu a couple of weeks after the ikat
symposium in Baguio, she channels inspiration from Fu Dalu, the T’boli’s goddess
of abaca, which guides her in her dreams to conjure designs for her woven
creations.
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| Barbara Ofong shows of a cloth with a collage of 9 different patterns |
"I started
weaving during the time of the Santa Cruz Mission," Ofong told us in her
native Tboli language and translated to us by cultural worker Michael Yambok,
who is also a tourism officer of Lake Sebu.
Yambok clarified to
us that the Santa Cruz Mission, a Catholic mission, arrived in Lake Sebu during
the 1960s—or almost 60 years ago. According to author Alvin Hower in his memoir
No Greater Service, which narrates his experience as a social worker
volunteer for the Peace Corps in the Philippines, there were only around five
remaining weavers of the T'nalak cloth in Lake Sebu when the Santa Cruz Mission
arrived. Not long after, the mission collaborated with local women of Lake Sebu
to resurrect the then dying art of T'nalak weaving.
“I didn’t expect to
be honored with a GAMABA award by being a weaver”, she happily tells us. Yambok
also told us that Ofong is also a volunteer at the School of Living Tradition
in Lake Sebu that was founded by T'boli cultural ambassador and indigenous
artist Maria "Oyog" Todi in the 1990s. “At the same time, she
(Ofong) also volunteers at School of Indigenous Knowledge And Traditions”.
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| Another cultural bearer of Lake Sebu and potentially a future GAMABA awardee Maria Todi |
In the middle part
of December, I joined a few members of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) of
the Philippines when they conducted an assessment of the status of their
Community-Based Tourism program workshop that was held in Lake Sebu last year,
on a return trip to Lake Sebu.
This time, I got
the chance to meet another of the town’s Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan recipients,
Bundos Fara. Fara is a master brass caster and one of the few remaining makers
of the T'boli metalcraft called Temwel.
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| Me with 2024 GAMABA Awardee Bundos Fara |
The T'boli people
widely believe that Ginton, the T'boli God of metalwork, bestowed the privilege
of mastering the art of brass casting to a select few, among them Fara. Through
many years of experience, his unmatched artistry in fusing traditional designs
with contemporary styles has transformed his metal pieces into collector's
items.
We chanced upon
Fara in his small shop in Lake Sebu while on a break from working in his blazing
pot forging fire into melting pieces of steel, brass, and bronze materials he
typically uses to create his masterpieces.
With a smile on his
face, he gamely interacted and posed for photographs with our small group while
showing some of his art pieces such as a sword, rings, medallions and other
brass items.
Another South
Cotabato native who was honored by GAMABA was the late Yabing Masalon Dulo
(1914–2021). She was affectionately known as Fu Yabing since Fu is a T'boli word
of endearment similar to lola in Tagalog. Although she wasn't originally
from Lake Sebu, her hometown of Polomonok was just 1.5 hours away.
Fu Yabing was also
a great weaver, known for preserving the Blaan indigenous community's
traditional mabal tabih ikat weaving.
Almost a decade
ago, when I started traveling around the Philippines, my knowledge about our
traditional arts and crafts was limited to woodcarving and some weaving
creations from the Cordillera region. I find it amazing to be able to not only
learn more about the heritage arts and crafts of the Philippines; I also get to
know about such distinctions as the GAMABA, or the National Living Treasures,
and on top of that, like icing on a cake, I get to meet some of them. In
Lamitan, Basilan, a few years ago, I got the chance to meet another GAMABA
recipient, the late Yakan master Apuh Ambalang (1943-2022), and in 2023,
before she celebrated her 100th birthday last year, I met with Magdalena
Gamayo, the master inabel weaver from Pinili, Ilocos Norte.
With an enduring
legacy championing the region’s cultural, historical and heritage lineage
dating back to many centuries ago, Lake Sebu is emerging as one of the most
interesting destination for one to uncover a wealth of new learnings, about the
T’boli people, their customs and traditions. It is also a great way to help the
T'boli people keep their traditions alive by visiting them and supporting their
creations — and in the land of the Dream Weavers and National Living Treasures,
theirs are unlike any other creations.
This article first appeared on Rappler.
