In Calunasan: “the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down, is weaving when it comes up in the morning*”

It is about four o’clock on a fine Friday afternoon. Rippling gently with the soft breeze, is a huge rainbow-colored umbrella canopy that stands rather prominently in the middle of the fairgrounds semi-encircled by small nipa sheds cum exhibition kiosks, proudly displaying local hand-woven crafts of varying designs and sizes. Bags, placemats, baskets, trinkets and what-not’s made out of bamboo, buri and nito.

At one kiosk, three women are busy weaving pieces of nito and bamboo strips into what would become placemats and baskets. Rhythmic folk music played by a local kumparsa (string ensemble)wafts in the air, conflating with the buzz of excitement and anticipation from a good mix of crowd ranging from pre-schoolers dressed in Filipiniana to teeners to the leather-skinned community elders. Calunasan Norte is more than ready to receive its guests.

Across town, a tourist bus carrying a group hailing from different Southeast Asian countries (coming from a courtesy visit to Loboc Mayor Leon Calipusan), is traversing the Loboc River, plying through the narrow steel truss bridge, and pushing a few miles more into the greener interior Loboc countryside.

Back in 1974, this same group, and several more, were crossing much, much vast waters, aboard a different mode of transportation, a much, much, much bigger vessel, the cruise ship, Nippon Maru, for the first ever Ship for the Southeast East Asian Youth Programme** (SSEAYP).

Fast forward to 36 years, the first SSEAYP batch – wiser, youthful still – reunite and are back on the road, in Bohol, to immerse themselves, albeit briefly, with the local culture and, perhaps, help regenerate a dying cottage industry.

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At the helm of reviving and revitalizing the basket/buri weaving industry in Calunasan is Mirchel Dompor Brua Ramos, Zing to many.

Basket weaving was once a flourishing cottage industry in Calunasan and in other barangays in Loboc (and, probably, in most of Bohol’s hinter-barangays). It was a family livelihood that helped sustain the meager and mostly subsistence income from farming, which helped families send their children to college and through better work opportunities here and abroad.

“When I was a child, what comes in mind first when talking about Calunasan is basket weaving. This tradition was passed on from generation to generation and has become one of the major sources of income for most Calunasanon’s”, Zing recalls.

A testimonial essay from the Bacat Family, a successful basket weaving family in Calunasan, recounts the MMK-worthy story of how in the family of 11 children, with hard work, perseverance, and the help of basket-weaving, all eleven children were sent to college, thus, opening up bigger opportunities which led to the successes they and their families have today.

“Basket weaving is a big part of our success. What could we have done without it? It paid part of our tuition fees and school supplies. All of us went to college with my parents’ meager income, but thanks to basket weaving, it really made a difference. At the moment, 8 of us are permanently residing in California, USA.”

Though, basket weaving, which has since expanded to other decorative crafts, to this day, still helps many Calunasanon families, the cottage industry has declined and is no longer seen as a the “alternative livelihood” that it was, for this interior Loboc barangay, tucked away from the town’s booming tourism route.

Loboc, after all, is the contending queen of Bohol tourism, with four of the province’s major touristic offerings – the Loboc River, the Loboc Church, the Loboc Children’s Choir, and the man-made forest (shared with Bilar town). (Recognition for the Philippine Tarsier, which Loboc also includes in its portfolio, must really belong to Corella town, where the more tarsier-friendly, nature-centric Philippine Tarsier Conservation Park is.) However, inner barangays like Calunasan, are only getting fringe benefits from Loboc’s tourism boom.

Harking back the glory days of basket weaving, Calunasanons like Zing Ramos are seeking to reanimate this precious cottage industry, bring it to a much higher level, a more expansive industry that will define Calunasan, and, more importantly, improve the economy of this rural barangay.

“I believe, this (industry) will soon be back in the limelight through total planning of production, improving the tools and technology, training in product design and innovation, organization of marketing channels, providing credit facilities, competitive pricing, as well as satisfactory infrastructure that will seriously boost these crafts, ” Zing explains.

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The mammoth tourist bus finally popped into view, after a tricky turn towards the Calunasan Norte chapel, whose frontage has become the village fairgrounds. Someone directed the kumparsa to play a livelier welcome tune. And a huge warm, welcoming applause is heard from the Calunasanons. The Calunasan-SSYEAP Meet has begun.

The SSEAYP 1974 alumnae group led by Marilen P. Goyeneche, along with alumnae from SSEAYP Batch 1990, 1996 and 1999, as well as Philippine Host Family Representatives, and immediate family, are ushered to their seats under the canopy tent, where there also lies a mouth-watering spread of local delicacies such as bingka, kutsinta, pau with latik, puto, and buko lamaw.

Cultural performances to entertain the visitors, and showcase local talents immediately started, kicked off by the absolutely delightful Bol-anon folk dance presentation of the adorable nursery pupils of Calunasan, all 8 of them. There were acoustic group performances by the teenage boys, songs numbers and of course, the kumparsa, the Loboc Ambassador Rondalla.

After the program, the SSEAYP guests visited the exhibit booths, interacted with the basket weavers, and purchased some pieces, too.

As printouts of the testimonies and story of basket weaving in Calunasan and its significance to the community were given out to the SSEAYP guests, the word has been spread and will continue to be. Even though, this meet-up is brief, it is meaningful in a way that it opens up the potentials of Calunasan, not only in basket and crafts weaving, but on greater things that the community has envisioned for this industry, like high-end interior furnishings and furniture.

The Calunasan community led by Brgy. Chair Arsenio Gabanto, the likes of Zing Ramos and her family, the young Calunasanons, the Bacats and all other successful families with Calunasanon roots who have acquired vast knowledge from the world – all are the artisans who shall weave the basket of innovations and possibilities for the sustainable development of this tight-knit village.

The rest of us could only do so much as bring fruit to that basket. #

* Ripped from Henry Ward Beecher: “We sleep, but the loom of life never stops, and the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is weaving when it comes up in the morning.”

** SSEAYP is an annual programme sponsored by the Japanese Government that brings together more than 300 youth from ASEAN countries and Japan, providing them with the unique opportunity to live together on board the ship Nippon Maru for over 40 days.

*** Also printed in LifestyleBohol, The Bohol Chronicle, 21 November 2010