Contemporary
Filipino Artists
Using Indigenous
Craftmanship.
“Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan”
Prepared by:
JUDE A. LEGASPI, LPT.
Faculty, College of Arts and Sciences
Learning Objectives
To discover the practical ways of supporting
01 local artisan services in our community.
Explore how these artists innovate by blending
02 indigenous craftsmanship with modern artistic
techniques and concepts, creating unique and
culturally relevant artworks
GAMABA
GAMABA stands for "Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan, "
which translates to "National Living Treasures Award. " It is
a recognition given to individuals or groups in the
Philippines who are considered masters of traditional arts
and crafts
Federico Caballero
He is a Sulod-Bukidnon epic chanter
from Kalinog, Iloilo.
He ceaselessly work for the
documentation of the oral literature,
particularly the epics, of his people.
He is considered as a “bantugan.”
He strives to dispense justice in the
community through his work as a
manughusay - an arbiter of conflicts.
In 2000, he was given the "Gawad sa
Manlilikha ng Bayan" award.
Uwang Ahadas
A Yakan of Lamitan, Basilan was
awarded for his dexterity in playing
Yakan musical instruments such as the
kwintangan, gabbang, agung,
kwintangan kayu, tuntungan among
others
He has a deep knowledge of the
aesthetic possibilities and social
contexts of those instruments.
In spite of the dimming of his eyesight,
he has devoted his life to the teaching
of Yakan musical traditions.
Darhata Sawabi
She was a weaver of pis syabit the
traditional cloth tapestry worn as a head
covering by the Tausug of Jolo, from
Barangay Parang, in the island of Jolo,
Sulu province.
Pis syabit weaving is a difficult art.
Preparing the wrap alone already takes
three days. It is very tiring and
mechanical task.
Despite the conflict in Jolo, Sawabi's
dedication to her art enhanced the
preservation of traditional Tausug
designs.
Magdalena Gamayo
An Ilocano textile weaver of the abel,
the traditional blanket.
Her works are of the finest quality,
using very high thread count and
incorporating intricate designs.
Her accuracy in color spacing makes
her blankets sought after.
She has mastered the traditional
patterns of Sinan-sabong (flowers),
kusikos (spirals), and the binakol
inuritan (geometric).
Ambalang Ausalin
She is a Yakan textile weaver from
Parangbasak, Lamitan City, Basilan.
She acquired at a young age the ability
for fashioning the minutest details of
the most intricate designs of her
community's textile tradition.
She ensures that the tradition is kept
alive by bequeathing her knowledge and
passing on her skills to younger Vakan
weavers.
Estelita Bantilan
A Filipina textile weaver from the
municipality of Malapatan, Sarangani.
Estelita carried on weaving because
mats were her gifts of choice to people
she cherished.
She was never wont to monetize her
mats. She carved out considerable time
from domestic and farming
responsibilities to accomplish some of
the biggest, biggest, most subtly
beautiful mats to be seen anywhere in
Southeast Asia today
Yabing Masalon Dulo
She is one of the two master designers of the
B’laan tribe’s mabal tabih art of dyeing and
weaving.
She started weaving at the age of 14, creating
two “tabih” (handwoven dyed abaka)
masterpieces. One of these pieces is displayed
at the National Museum.
Her works have also been exhibited at the
Wow Mindanao Tourism Expo in Davao in
2004, and the ASEAN Traditional Textiles
Symposium at the Cultural Center of the
Philippines in 2009.
To help preserve mabal tabih art, Fu Yabing
taught the craft to her only daughter, Lamina
Dulo Gulili, and to women
Teofilo Garcia
Teofilo Garcia (born March 27, 1941), a
native of the town of San Quintin in Abra, is
a Filipino hatter who is regarded as a
National Living Treasure in the Philippines
for making tabungaw hats, a type of Ilocano
headwear.
Tabungaw is an Ilocano term for “Upo”, also
known as Bottle Gourd or White Pumpkin.
He primarily cultivates rice and tobacco and
tends to a herd of cows. During the period
when he does neither of these, Garcia grows
tabungaw.
Garcia learned how to create tabungaw hats
and weave basket from his grandfather when
he was 15 years old.
Haja Amina Appi
Haja Amina Appi (June 25, 1925 –
April 2, 2013) was a Filipino master
mat weaver and teacher from the Sama
indigenous people of Ungos Matata,
Tandubas, Tawi-Tawi.
She was credited for creating colorful
pandan mats with complex geometric
patterns.
She was given the National Living
Treasures Award in 2004 by the
Philippines through the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts.
Eduardo Mutuc
Eduardo Mutuc is a Kapampangan
master craftsman of religious and
secular art in plated silver.
His delicate craftsmanship and
attention to detail are apparent from the
smallest piece of metal craft to the
forty-foot retables he produces.
His educational attainment is only
elementary education since he helped
his parents in farming. As an adult, he
continued to work as a farmer.
Ginaw Bilog
Ginaw Bilog, Hanunoo Mangyan from
Mansalay, Mindoro, grew up in such a
cultural environment.
Ginaw took it upon himself to
continually keep scores of ambahan
poetry recorded, not only on bamboo
tubes but on old, dog-eared notebooks
passed on to him by friends
Ginaw shares old and new ambahans
with his fellow Mangyans and promotes
this poetic form on every occasion
Masino Intaray
An outstanding master of the basal, kulilal
and bagit is Masino, a gifted poet, bard
artist, and musician who was born near the
head of the river in Makagwa valley on the
foothill of Mantalingayan mountain.
Kulilal and Bagit traditions – both of which
are mastered by the late Masino Intaray.
The kulilal is a highly lyrical poem
expressing passionate love sang with the
accompaniment of the kudyapi (two-stringed
lute), played by a man, and pagang (bamboo
zither), played by a woman.
Samoan Sulaiman
Samaon Sulaiman achieved the highest level of
excellence in the art of kutyapi playing.
Samaon was a popular barber in his
community and serve as an Imam in the
Libutan mosque.
The kutyapi is a favorite solo instrument
among both Muslim and non-Muslim Filipinos
and is also played in combination with other
instruments.
Magindanao kutyapi music is rich in melodic
and rhythmic invention, explores a wide range
of timbres and sound phenomena – both
human and natural, possesses a subtle and
variable tuning system, and is deeply poetic in
inspiration
Lang Dulay
She had learned how to weave at the young
age of twelve years old. She is one of the
pioneers of weaving T’ nalak and knows a
hundred designs, including the bulinglangit
(clouds), the bang kding (hair bangs), and the
kabangi (butterfly).
Ikat dyeing, which includes tying and dying
the threads before weaving, is how the
elaborate patterns on the T' nalak clothes are
made one of the few T'boli weavers still using
conventional techniques for making T' nalak
was Lang Dulay.
She was renowned for her skill in combining a
combination of natural dyes and complicated
knotting techniques to produce intricate and
lovely patterns on the fabric.
Salinta Monon
Also known as the “last Bagobo Weaver ”
Salinta Monon is known for the quality of her
work and the intricacies of her designs. She
had mastered one of the most difficult and
favored designs, the binuwaya (crocodile).
Her meticulousness in weaving enabled her to
easily identify the designs, as well as the
weaver of a particular piece at a glance.
Salinta learned the art of her ancestor through
her mother, a shared experience with the
majority of weavers in the archipelago when
she was 12. As a child watching her mother
weave, Salinta then dedicated her life honing
her artistry and craft in which earned her a
reputation as a master weaver.
Alonzo Saclag
Saclag taught himself of his people's
traditions in the performing arts
He learned how to play traditional Kalinga
musical instruments and Kalinga ritual
dance movements without formal or
informal instruction.
His instrumental in establishing the practice
of children wearing traditional Kalinga
clothing for important school events as well
as the teaching of Kalinga folk songs in
schools.
Contemporary
Filipino Artists
Using Indigenous
Craftmanship.
“Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan”
Prepared by:
JUDE A. LEGASPI, LPT.
Faculty, College of Arts and Sciences
