GAMABA Awardees arde es Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan Awards or GAMABA is an award that acknowledges folk and indigenous artists
who, despite the modern times, remain true to their traditions. It is administered by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Arts (NCCA) through Gawad sa anlilikha ng !ayan Committee. GAA!A began as a pro"ect of the #hilippine $otary Club akati%Ayala. In &'', it was adopted by the goernment and institutionali*ed through $epublic Act No. +-. +- . his award aims to support and motiate these artists to presere their artistic heritage for the present and future generations. hese artists are also recogni*ed as the country/s National 0iing reasures.
2005
1arhata 2awabi is a ausug weaer of pis syabit % % the traditional cloth tapestry worn as a head coer. 3duardo utuc is utuc is an artist from Apalit, #ampanga who has dedicated his life to creating religious and secular art in siler, bron*e, and wood. 4a"a Amina Appi is recogni*ed as a master mat weaer among the 2ama indigenous community for her uni5ue designs, straightness of her edging (tabig), and fineness of her sasa and kima-kima.
2000
Alon*o 2aclag is a 6alinga master of dance and the performing arts who mastered not only the 6alinga musical instruments but also the dance patterns and moements associated with his people7s ritual. 8ederico Caballero is Caballero is a 2ulod%!ukidnon epic chanter from 6alinog, Iloilo who ceaselessly works for the documentation of the oral literature, particularly the epics, of his people. 9wang Ahadas is Ahadas is a :akan musician who is a master of the kwintangan, kayu, and tuntungan instruments.
1998
0ang 1ulay is 1ulay is a /boli traditional weaer of ;tinalak; or /boli cloth made of colorful abaca fabrics. 2alinta onon is a agabanwa%!agobo agabanwa%!agobo traditional weaer of distinct abaca fabrics called inabal .
1993
Ginaw !ilog is a 4anunoo angyan poet who is considered as a master of the Ambahan poetry. asino Intaray is Intaray is a prolific and pre%eminent epic chanter and story teller recogni*ed for his outstanding mastery of arious traditional musical instruments of the #alaw/an people% such as basal , kulilal and and bagit .
2amaon 2ulaiman is an acclaimed kutyapi master master and teacher of this instrument and is also proficient in kulintang , agong , gandingan, palendag , and tambul .
GINAW BILOG (+ 2003)
Poet Hanunuo Mangyan Panaytayan, Oriental Mindoro 1993
A common cultural aspect among cultural communities nationwide is the oral tradition characteri*ed by poetic erses which are either sung or chanted. 4oweer, what distinguishes the th e ri rich ch a angy ngyan an lilite tera rary ry tr trad adititio ion n fr from om ot other herss is th the e am amba baha han, n, a po poet etic ic lilite tera rary ry fo form rm composed of seen%syllable lines used to coney messages through metaphors and images. he ambahan is sung and its messages range from courtship, giing adice to the young, asking for a place to stay, saying goodbye to a dear friend and so on. 2uch an oral tradition is commonplace among indigenous cultural groups but the ambahan has remained in e
0iing in the highlands of southern #alawan are the #alawan people, who, together with the !atak and agbanwa, are the ma"or indigenous cultural communities of #alawan. he #alawan possess a rich, intense yet highly refined culture encompassing both the isible and inisible worlds. hey may not e
hen one plays loudly, the other plays softly. Contrapuntal patterns goern the interaction of the agung with the sanang and gimbal. It is the music of ?punctuation, rhythm and color rather than melody@. Its ery essence is creatie cooperation and togetherness. A non%musical instrumental element of the basal are the young women7s rapid stamping rhythm of their foot as they moe back and forth on the bamboo slatted floor of the kolon banwa, carrying taro leaes on both hands at their sides. his percussion dance is called tarak. 8urther highlighting the intensely poetic and subtle harmony of human beings with each other and with nature among the palawan are the kulilal and bagit traditions. he kulilal is a highly lyrical poem e
An outstanding master of the basal, kulilal and bagit is asino, a gifted poet, bard artist, and musician who was born near the head of the rier in akagwa alley on the foothill of antalingayan mountain. asino is not only well%ersed in the instruments and traditions of the basal, kulilal and bagit but also plays the aroding (mouth harp) and babarak (ring flute) and aboe all is a prolific and pre%eminent epic chanter and story teller. 4e has the creatie memory, endurance, clarity of intellect and spiritual purpose that enable him to chant all through the night, for successie nights, countless tultul (epics), sudsungit (narraties), and tuturan (myths of origin and teachings of ancestors). asino and the basal and kulilal ensemble of akagwa alley are creatie, traditional artists of the highest order of merit. ( Prof. Felipe M. de Leon, Jr.) SAMAON S!AIMAN (+ 211!
usician agindanao ama sa #ano, aguindanao 1993
he agindanaon, who are among the largest of 8ilipino Islamic groups, are concentrated in the towns of 1inaig, 1atu #iang, aganoy and !uluan in agindanao proince. 4ighly sophisticated in weaing, okir designs, "ewelry, metalwork and brassware, their art is 2outheast Asian yet distinct in character. In the field of music, the agindanaon hae few peers among 8ilipino cultural communities. heir masters on the kulintang (gong%chime) and kutyapi (two%stringed plucked lute) are comparable to any instrumental irtuoso in the 3ast or >est. he kutyapi is a faorite solo instrument among both uslim and non%uslim 8ilipinos, and is also played in combination with other instruments. It e
2amaon 2ulaiman achieed the highest leel of e
9sing abaca fibers as fine as hair, 0ang 1ulay speaks more elo5uently than words can. Images from the distant past of her people, the bolis, are recreated by her nimble hands = the crocodiles, butterflies and flowers, along with mountains and streams, of 0ake 2ebu, 2outh Cotabato, where she and her ancestors were born = fill the fabric with their longing to be remembered. hrough her weaing, 0ang 1ulay does what she can to keep her people7s tradition alie. here are a few of them left, the traditional weaers of the tnalak or boli cloth. It is not hard to see whyB weaing tnalak is a tedious process that begins with stripping the stem of the abaca plant to get the fibers, to coa
sit down to her designs. Also, due to the peculiarity of the fiber, of its getting brittle under the noon day sun, working on it is preferred during the cool eenings or early morn. 0ang 1ulay knows a hundred designs, including the bulinglangit (clouds), the bankiring (hair bangs), and the kabangi (butterfly), each one special for the stories it tells. 9sing red and black dyes, she spins her stories with grace. 4er teith the art comes certain taboos that boli weaers are careful to obsere, such as passing a single abaca thread all oer the body before weaing so as not to get sick. 0ang 1ulay neer washes the tnalak with soap, and aoids using soap when she is dyeing the threads in order to maintain the pureness of the abaca. 9pon learning that she was being considered to be one of the Gawad sa anlilikha ng !ayan awardees, tears of "oy fell from her eyes. 2he thought of the school that she wanted to build, a school where the women of her community could go to perfect their art. ( Maricris Jan Tobias) SA!INTA MONON (+ 29!
eeaer agabawa !agobo !ansalan, 1aao del 2ur 1998
#ractically, since she was born, 2alinta onon had watched her mother7s nimble hands glide oer the loom, weaing traditional !agobo te
All her life she has woen continuously, through her marriage and si< pregnancies, and een after her husband7s death D years ago. 2he and her sister are the only remaining !agobo weaers in her community. 4er husband paid her parents a higher bride price because of her weaing skills. 4oweer, he left all the abaca gathering and stripping to her. Instead, he concentrated on making their small farm holding productie. 0ife was such that she was obliged to help out in the farm, often putting her own work aside to make sure the planting got done and the harest were brought in. >hen her husband died, she was left alone with a farm and si< children, but she continued with her weaing, as a source of income as well as pride. 2alinta has built a solid reputation for the 5uality of her work and the intricacies of her designs. here is a continuing demand for her fabrics. 2he has reached the stage where she is able to set her own price, but she admits to a nagging sense of being underpaid neertheless, considering the time she puts into her work. It takes her three to four months to finish a fabric .- m < E cm in length, or one abaca tube skirt per month. 2he used to wear the traditional hand%woen tube skirt of the !agobo, of which the sinukla and the bandira were two of the most common types until the market began to be flooded with cheap machine%made fabrics. Now, she wears her traditional clothes only on speacial occasions. f the many designs she weaes, her faorite is the binuwaya (crocodile), which is one of the hardest to make. oday, she has her son to strip the abaca fibers for her. Abaca was once plentiful in their area, but an unehen she has work to finish, 2alinta isolates herself from her family to ensure priacy and concentration in her art. At the moment, she does her weaing in her own home, but she wants nothing better than to build a structure "ust for weaing, a place e
usician and 1ancer 6alinga
0ubugan, 6alinga 2000
4istory, they say, is always written from the perspectie of the dominant class. It is not as ob"ectie an account as we were led to beliee when, as elementary schoolchildren, we were made to memori*e the details of the lies of Fose $i*al and the other notable ilustrados. 4istory is about as impartial as the editorials we eagerly deour today, the ones that ehich is why the efforts of Alon*o 2aclag, declared anlilikha ng !ayan for DDD, become all the more significant. A 6alinga master of dance and the performing arts, he has made it his mission to create and nurture a greater consciousness and appreciation of 6alinga culture, among the 6alinga themseles and beyond their borders. As a young boy in 0ubuagan, 6alinga, Alon*o 2aclag found endless fascination in the sights and sounds of day%to%day illage life and ritual. According to his son, $obinson, he receied no instruction, formal or otherwise, in the performing arts. :et he has mastered not only the 6alinga musical instruments but also the dance patterns and moements associated with his people7s rituals. 4is tool was obseration, his teacher, e
4e cites as an ehile the unwritten laws and epics chronicle their ictories as a people, their artifacts afford us a glimpse into their day%to%day ehile many hae eho can resist the lure of foreign places, he concedes. 4is own wife and children hae "oined him in his traels and performances, and though they match his commitment and his dedication, he acknowledges, with a playful grin, that his nine children hae yet to e5ual his graceful moements. >hile his young charges dream of isiting other places, he hopes to recreate a 6alinga illage comparable to those he remembers from his youth. In it, he hopes to build a traditional structure that will house the art and artifacts of his people, a showcase of 6alinga artistry and genius and a source of pride for his community. 4e remembers with fondness the 6alinga
4ouse in the grounds of the 3aiting, howeer, is a small difficulty. he greater obstacle appears to be gaining the support of those who continue to 5uestion and challenge his moties. ne would think that with such a noble purpose, one would hae no trouble finding allies, not the least among the 6alinga themseles. $eality, though, suggests the contrary. !ut Alon*o 2aclag remains unfa*ed. >ith characteristic generosity, he does not, for instance, begrudge nor fear the efforts others take to put up a group similar to his much%celebrated 6alinga !udong 1ance roupe. oreoer, he welcomes the idea of collaborating with them, should the opportunity present itself. In the meantime, he perseeres in his work, braing long hours of trael een in the face of a tribal war. 4is wife, $ebecca, who faithfully follows him whereer his traels take him, says this is his missionB to continue to nurture and uphold the 6alinga culture, the birthright of his children. (Sal() d) la *a+ ) ,-"-RI'O 'ABA!!-RO 0pi" anter #ulod-%ukidnon alinog, .loilo 2000
2tories are the lifeblood of a people. In the stories people tell lies a window to what they think, beliee, and desire. In truth, a people7s stories soundly encapsulate the essence of their humanity. And this circumstance is not peculiar to any one group. It is as a thread that weaes through the ciili*ations of the ancient 3ast and the cultures of the industrial >est. 2o significant is the role they play that to poison a people7s stories, says African writer !en kri, is to poison their lies. his truth resonates in the e
sacred mountain, would come to liberate the nation. he crafty 2paniards sei*ed upon this myth and used it as a tool for further sub"ugation. hey harped on it, enshrining it in the consciousness of eery agalog, dangling this legendary champion in front of their eyes as one would the proerbial carrot. 2o insidious was this myth that suffering in silence and waiting for delierance became a irtue. And for a time, it lulled the people into a false sense of hope, smothering all desire to rise up in arms. :et stories can also stir up a people long asleep, awaken senses that hae lain dormant or been dulled by the neglect of many centuries. hroughout history, not a few hae ehen his mother or his Anggoy would inadertently nod off, he would beg them to stay awake and finish the tale. 4is fascination naturally grew into a desire to learn to chant the epics himself. 2purred on by this, he showed an almost enterprising facetB when asked by his Anggoy to fetch water from the rier, pound rice, or pull grass from the kaingin, he would agree to do so on the condition that he be taught to chant an epic. 2uch audacity could ery well hae earned him a scolding. !ut it was his earnestness that clearly shone through. Not long after, he con5uered all ten epics and other forms of oral literature, besides. >hen both his Anggoy and his mother had passed on, Nong #edring continued the tradition, collaborating with researchers to document what is customarily referred to as 4umadapnon and 0abaw 1unggon epics. Although his siblings also share the gift of their forebears, he alone perseered in the task, unmindful of the disapproal of his three children. 4e e
Nong #edring takes upon himself the task of setting things right. 4e works with the !ureau of Nonformal 3ducation, traelling from barangay to barangay, trying to conince the older folk of the necessity and benefits of learning to read and write. Although he is warmly receied in these places, he has an admittedly difficult assignment. he older people generally no longer feel up to the challenge of learning a new skill. !esides, they see little use in it. 4e appeals to them by saying their help is needed to put into writing their indigenous beliefs, traditions, and literature. nce documentation is completed, teaching the younger people, especially those who hae e
akan *amitan, %asilan 2000
uch mystery surrounds life. And when confronted with such, it is but natural to attempt some form of hypothesi*ing. In the days when hard science was nonehen they reached the peak of !inaratan, howeer, they could no longer hear their hounds as the song of the birds drowned their barking. ne of the hunters begged 6aboniyan to stop the birds7 singing, lest the hunt fail and they return home empty%handed. 2o 6aboniyan commanded the creatures of !inaratan to be silent in a oice so loud and frightful that they kept their peace in fear. 2ince then, a strange unbroken silence reigns at the top of the mountain, in spite of the multitudes of birds that flit from tree to tree. And because they belong to this sphere, it is belieed that mortal men are as ulnerable to the powers and the whims of these gods and spirits as the beasts that roam the land and the birds that sail the sky. hough they are hidden behind dark glasses, the eyes of 9wang Ahadas speak of such a tale, one that came to pass more than half a century before. hey tell story of a young boy who unknowingly incurred the ire of the nature spirits through his childish play. he people of his community beliee 9wang7s near%blindness is a form of retribution from the nature spirits that dwelled in !ohe 0ibaken, a brook near the place where he was born and where, as a child, he often bathed. 4is father, Imam Ahadas, recalls that the fie% year%old 9wang 5uietly endured the pain in his eyes, waiting out a month before finally telling his parents. usic was to become his constant companion. 9wang Ahadas is a :akan, a people to whom instrumental music is of much significance, connected as it is with both the agricultural cycle and the social realm. ne old agricultural tradition inoles the kwintangan kayu, an instrument consisting of fie wooden logs hung hori*ontally, from the shortest to the longest, with the shortest being nearest the ground. After the planting of the rice, an unroofed platform is built high in the branches of a tree. hen the kwintangan kayu is played to serenade the palay, as a loer woos his beloed. Its resonance is belieed to gently caress the plants, rousing them from their deep sleep, encouraging them to grow and yield more fruit. >ith this heritage, as rich as it is steeped in music, it is no wonder that een as a young child, 9wang "oyously embraced the demands and the discipline necessitated by his art. 4is training began with the ardent obseration of the older, more knowledgeable players in his community. 4is own family, gifted with a strong tradition in music, complemented the instruction he receied. 4e and his siblings were all encouraged to learn how to play the different :akan instruments, as these were part of the legacy of his ancestors. Not all :akan
children hae such priilege. aintaining the instruments is ery eith missionary feror, he stries to pass on his knowledge to others. 4is own e
:et when asked how he felt about treatment to correct his condition, he smiles and nods his head. >ith possibly the same tran5uil with which he faced up to both his fate and his people7s tradition, he e
eeaer ausug #arang, 2ulu 200
In !arangay #arang, in the island of Folo , 2ulu proince, women weaers are hard at work weaing the pis syabit, the traditional cloth tapestry worn as a head coering by the ausug of Folo. ?his is what we7e grown up with,@ say the weaers. ?It is something we7e learned from our mothers.@ 1arhata 2awabi is one of those who took the art of pis syabit making to heart. he families in her natie #arang still depend on subsistence farming as their main source of income. !ut farming does not bring in enough money to support a family, and is not een an option for someone like 1arhata 2awabi who was raised from birth to do only household chores. 2he has neer married. hus, weaing is her only possible source of income. he money she earns from making the colorful s5uares of cloth has enabled her to become self% sufficient and less dependent on her nephews and nieces. A hand%woen s5uare measuring ' by ED inches, which takes her some three months to weae, brings her about #,DDD. hese s5uares are purchased by ausug for headpieces, as well as to adorn natie attire, bags and other accessories. 4er remarkable proficiency with the art and the intricacy of her designs allows her to price her creations a little higher than others. 4er own community of weaers recogni*es her e
supported her family by weaing and selling her pieces to the participants in the conflict who passed through her illage. !ecause of her dedication to her art, generations of traditional ausug designs hae been presered and are aailable for contemporary appreciation and future study. 2he continues to weae at home, while teaching the other women of her community. In recent years, she has had seeral apprentices, and more and more people hae bought her work. 2awabi remains faithful to the art of pis syabit weaing. 4er strokes are firm and sure, her color sensitiity acute, and her dedication to the 5uality of her products unwaering. 2he recogni*es the need for her to remain in the community and continue with her mission to teach the art of pis syabit weaing. 2he had, after all, already been teaching the young women of #arang how to make a liing from their woen fabrics. 2ome of her students are already teachers themseles. 2he looks forward to sharing the tradition of pis syabit weaing to the younger generations. ( Maricris Jan Tobias) -"AR"O MT'
etalsmith 6apampangan Apalit #ampanga 200
3duardo utuc is an artist who has dedicated his life to creating religious and secular art in siler, bron*e and wood. 4is intricately detailed retablos, mirrors, altars, and carosas are in churches and priate collections. A number of these works are 5uite large, some eeek and
Christmas. 4e deries inspiration from traditional religious designs and infuses his own ideas into the finished product. >hile he finds meaning in making pieces for the church, orders for commissioned pieces hae become fewer because of the economic slump. !ut een for his secular pieces, he finds inspiration in church art. >hen he is working on metalwork, he begins with a detailed drawing. 4e then transfers the design on a block of wood by chiseling out the details. 4e then coers the wood with a metal sheet, and then coahile small tears or mistakes in cutting out the design could be easily remedied, an error in measurement or caring might re5uire him to do it oer. 4e acknowledges that he makes fewer mistakes now that he has become more e
4a"a Amina Appi of 9ngos atata, andubas, awi%awi, is recogni*ed as the master mat weaer among the 2ama indigenous community of 9ngos atata. 4er colorful mats with their comple< geometric patterns e
her as a patient and gentle teacher, 4a"a Amina7s passion for perfection shows itself as she runs a finger alongside the uneen stitching and obious patchwork on her apprentices7 work. 2he is eager to teach, and looks forward to sharing the art with other weaers. ( Maricris Jan Tobias) T-O,I!O GAR'IA asue Maker .lo"ano #an 4uintin, 5bra 2012
3ach time eofilo Garcia leaes his farm in 2an Kuintin, Abra, he makes it a point to wear a tabungaw. #eople in the nearby towns of the proince, in neighboring 2ta. aria and igan in Ilocos 2ur, and as far as 0aoag in Ilocos Norte sit up and take notice of his uni5ue, functional and elegant headpiece that shields him from the rain and the sun. A closer look would reeal that it is made of the natie gourd, hollowed out, polished, and arnished to a bright orange sheen to improe its weather resistance. he inside is lined with finely woen rattan matting, and the brim sports a subtle bamboo weae for accent. !ecause he takes pride in wearing his creations, eofilo has gotten many orders as a result. hrough his own efforts, through word of mouth, and through his own participation in an annual harest festial in his local Abra, a lot of people hae discoered about the wonders of the tabungaw as a practical alternatie. 4undreds hae sought him out at his home to order their own natie all%weather headgear. 4is clients hae worn his work, sent them as gifts to their relaties abroad, and showed them off as a masterpiece of 8ilipino craftsmanship. >ith the proper care, a well%made tabungaw can last up to three to four generations, and the ones created by eofilo are among the best there are. hey are so sturdy that generally, farmers need to own only one at a time. 3en eofilo and his son only own one tabungaw each. Although he has been a master artisan since he learned how to make gourd cas5ues and weae baskets from his grandfather at the age of &-, eofilo is still principally a farmer. ost of the year is spent working the land to coa< a good harest to enable him to send his fie children to school. !ut during the months that his land is not planted to rice and tobacco, or caring for his herd of cows, he deotes his land to planting upo (family Cucurbitaceae), which he then transforms into the traditional tabungaw. Crafting the tabungaw from planting and haresting the upo, refining the uway (rattan) that make up the lining of the tabungaw, weaing the puser (bamboo) that seres as the accent for the work, and finishing the work takes up a lot of time. It takes at least seen days to finish one tabungaw, assuming that all the materials are aailable. 4e uses only simple hand tools that he designed himself and he is inoled in each stage of the production. 4is craft demands a lot of personal input from him because there is hardly any way for him to source the materials he needs for his work unless he makes them himself. 4e has had to turn down large orders because he has no one to help him, and in any case, there is no one who matches his leel of skill. 2ometimes, he wants to gie up because it7s hard work, but he doesn7t do it, for fear that the art will end with him.
4is output is also limited by his harest of gourds. In a good year and blessed with good weather, he can make up to &DD pieces. his year, inspired by increasing orders, he plans to increase the area of his farm dedicated to gourd planting. 4is increased isibility is also partly the result of the local agricultural fairs organi*ed by the local goernment where he takes out a booth eery year to showcase his work. 2ince he learned the craft, he has not stopped innoating. 3ach handcrafted tabungaw is the product of years of study and careful attention to the elements that make up the entire piece. #reiously, he used nito (ine trimmings) to decorate the outside of the headgear and sourced it from Cagayan, but when his relatie who supplied him with the raw materials passed away, he decided to e
he Ilocos Norte that agdalena Gamayo knows is only a couple of hours drie away from the capital of 0aoag, but is far remoed from the 5uickening pulse of the emergent city. Instead, it remains a 5uiet rural enclae dedicated to rice, cotton and tobacco crops. D& Gawad sa anlilikha ng !ayan awardee, agdalena Gamayo still owes a lot to the land and the annual harest. 1espite her status as master weaer, weaing alone is not enough.
Also, een though the roads are much improed, sourcing 5uality cotton threads for her abel is still a challenge. 3en though the North is known for its cotton, it does not hae thread factories to spin bales of cotton into spools of thread. Instead, agdalena has to rely on local merchants with their limited supplies.O 2he used to spin her own cotton and brushed it with beeswa< to make it stronger, but after the 2econd >orld >ar, she now relies on market% bought thread. 2he still remembers trading rice for thread, although those bartering days are oer. hread is more ehen it was beyond repair, she considers herself lucky to hae been able to buy a secondhand one.O oday, there are few locals who hae the skills to put together a loom similar to the ones agdalena usesB a sturdy wooden frame with three foot pedals with wide hori*ontal beams to support the warp and an een longer lengthwise frame to keep the threads in place. It is different from the backstrap loom traditionally used in the Cordillera, where the warp is anchored to a stationary ob"ect on one end and to the weaer7s body on the other end.
oday, agdalena has two studentsB her cousin7s daughter%in%law, who moed to agdalena7s community after marrying into agdalena7s familyH and her sister%in%law, who learned how to weae relatiely late, at the age of J. 2he has had other students before. 2he starts them on the triple%toned warp binakol , and only when she is satisfied with the 5uality of their work does she teach them other designs. 3en though agdalena is already JJ years old, her eyesight still holds true and she still takes care of arranging the threads on the loom. >eaers agree that in weaing, it is the hardest task of all. he slightest miscalculation can result in a misaligned design that doesn7t reeal itself until it7s too late. agdalena has taught herself the traditional patterns of binakol, inuritan(geometric design), kusikos (spiral forms similar to oranges), and sinan-sabong (flowers), which is the most challenging pattern. 2he has also taught herself to recreate designs, which is a useful skill particularly when she is only able to see the design but does not hae a sample of how it is done. hreading the shuttle through the warp, oer and under the strands to tease out the pattern, while e
