To raise awareness of their prized indigenous fabric, the provincial government of Maguindanao celebrated the Inaul festival and invited known personalities to don and showcase different inaul-wear designed by local couturiers. I was presented with a random opportunity to take a spontaneous simple head shot of someone who would eventually represent us in a prestigious global pageant several months later.
Froilan Medina. Palanca Award-winning Writer.
Introduced to literature at a young age by his father, and mentored by numerous national artists and playwrights including NVM Gonzalez and Rene Villanueva, Froilan emerged as an award-winning writer. His story Wala sa Sarili won third prize in the 1993 Palanca Awards’ category for Short Story (Filipino), and his screenplays for the films Boses, Kid Kulafu, and Thelma have earned him accolades as a writer for feature and documentary films.
Froilan envisions a Philippine nation that is progressive and tolerant, culturally and materially rich, and offers a promise of hope for all those fighting daunting problems and facing impossible odds.
Meranao Artisans of Tugaya
A young lady, her head bundled in a hijab, pounded gently on a minute shard of shell, hammering the fragment into place on the surface of a wooden chest. Too much force, and the chip would shatter into even smaller bits. Too light and the piece would be easily dislodged. But the weight of her touch was enough.
The chip joined an assortment of other splinters, introduced bit by bit and lined up carefully to form part of a deliberate arrangement, highlighted by the twirling okir, a unique, traditional Meranao motif. The required effort was painstaking, yet the artist worked patiently, installing pieces into the mosaic until the pattern emerged. Once completed, the wooden chest became fully adorned with intricate in-lay designs and carvings.
The pre-work was similarly tedious. Shells and mother of pearl fragments were fashioned into different shapes—squares, triangles and diamonds—individually cut and formed, requiring deft hands. It was a task suited for womenfolk, with their gentle yet firm temperament. The more brutish masculine treatment would probably not have yielded the same results. Women seemed born with the right touch.
This young lady was not alone. Her mother, sisters, and aunts were all equally adept at this enterprise. This was a family pre-occupation, with craftsmanship and skills passed on from one generation to another. But this activity was not exclusive to her household. Other families indulged in the same profession of embellishing wooden chests in their own versions and particular ornamentations, guarding their designs from being copied or replicated.
As it was in the whole town of Tugaya, guilds and artisans were commonplace.
Yolanda aftermath.
NBI workers "processing" the yet to be identified bodies in Suhi. A body bag would be opened, the cadaver would be checked if a finger print could be taken. If not, the teeth would be checked. If identification by teeth is not possible, then the femur would be sawn of.
Bodies were processed one after the other, but more body bags arrived and the piles never seemed to be reduced. The dead literally stared at me. And the stench stays.
Marine
Pata in Sulu has a dark and troubled history. It is the site of the infamous Pata massacre which has weighed significantly on the psyche of its residents and of the entire province.
Since Pata is an island municipality, it falls under the responsibility of the Philippine Marines. During an early morning trip to Pata Likud, the baranggay on the other side of the island, I took this photo.
Soldiering is not exclusive to men.
Uwang Ahadas. Yakan. National Living Treasure
Uwang Ahadas was given recognition in 2000 as one of the Philippines’ Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) awardees, or a National Living Treasure, by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
Uwang Ilul Ahadas, a gifted musician from Bohe Bessey, Lamitan, and a member of the Lamitan Yakan Family Ensemble, is a recognized master of traditional Yakan instrumental music in the entire Yakan domain. He learned the fundamentals of playing the instruments of the peregeyan kwintangan from observing the Yakan elders. These instruments have since been Uwang’s constant companions.
Recognizing and valuing Uwang’s gifts and his deep understanding of Yakan culture, everyone in his community became his students. Many of his protégés have gone on to become winners in the annual music competitions held during the Lami-lamihan Festival in Lamitan.
Despite his failing eyesight, Uwang’s remarkable skills as musician and teacher have brought him to many places in the Philippines and abroad. His immense knowledge on the context of traditional Yakan music and its meaning to the Yakan community, and to Lamitan in particular, has distinguished him from other skillful musicians. Thus he has become an invaluable contributor to the preservation of Yakan musical heritage as an identifying mark of the Yakan of Basilan.
From PASSAGES
Pata Commander
The Pata (Sulu) massacre happened on February 12, 1981. Over 118 officers and soldiers of the AFP were killed by the locals in what is described as the "largest number of casualties incurred by the AFP in a single incident."
To the local Tausug, it is the massacre of civilians who bore the brunt of the retaliation of the AFP and the transformation of Pata into a "no man's land".
The issues are complex. The narratives are legion, conflicting even.
I travelled to Pata over with Lt. Col. Cabanlet of MBLT1 to conduct interviews and do more research on the very tragic event that severely scarred the psyche of everyone. Among those we spoke to were Mayor Anton Burahan of Poblacion Pata and several former MNLF commanders (CMDRs Rajad Sahibad, Mohajad Saribon and Khadaffy Kahal) at Baranggay Likud.
More research is needed. More validation is needed. But a complete picture needs to be completed. So that genuine healing can take place and everyone can move on. And so that the tragedy will never be repeated.
The School Amongst the Clouds.
A boy stops for a photo on his way to a school which sits at one of the peaks of the mountain range that separates Saranggani and Davao del Sur. Grand Mt. Matutum is almost at eye-level from this vantage point.
Children from different neighboring baranggays in the municipality of Malungon walk as much as three hours everyday to get an education, crossing valleys and navigating 14 inch-wide trails with steep vertical drops on one or both sides.
Teachers who come from nearby General Santos city, mostly stay in for the week to avoid having to make the daily traverse, returning to the city only on weekends but ensuring they are back in the school by Monday morning.
MNLF Commander Ustadz Yahcub Mahmud
I met the MNLF commander in October 2016. He had agreed to meet us in Jolo, and drove from his camp in Bitanag, Panamao. While we were guarded by over 16 PNP SAF personnel, he came alone without guards and was just escorted by his teen-age son.
Ustadz Yahcub, a key officer of Nur Missuari, had gone to Syria and studied in one of its military academies before returning to Sulu. During the Zamboanga siege led by Ustadz Habier Malik, Ustadz Yahcub stayed in Sulu and refused to join the rogue faction, not believing in the particular course of action that Malik had undertaken..
He had established Camp Jahal Uhud as a zone of peace, a place which would not shelter kidnappers nor be the launching pad of military operations.
"A peace zone should allow our children to go to school, our farmers to farm so that there will be sufficient food on the table, not just the absence of war."
When we met again not long after that first encounter, I had asked him if I could do a documentary about him. I wanted to present real people and their narratives to add to the discussion on the complex Moro issue. He asked me what would people possibly be interested in hearing from him, then chuckled.
With his sudden passing in December 2017, I would no longer be able to sit down with him and capture our conversations on video. I could write and speak about the things we talked about and discussed, but it would have been different if the words came from his mouth.
The Face behind the Window
I had met her earlier in one of the bahay-na-bato houses in the heritage town of Taal. It was a brief encounter, as most interactions often are in the course of daily life. When it was time to go, she positioned herself at the large window made of wood and capiz, and gave me a long final look to send me off.
The memory lasted longer than the actual meeting. The power and magic of human connectivity are undeniable.
