SLTs

At the arts and crafts fair last weekend at Megamall, there were several booths set up by SLTs from different parts of the country — SLT meaning School of Living Traditions.

A project of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), these SLTs are managed by a cultural specialist teacher, usually older persons known for their mastery of local culture and who can pass on their knowledge, ranging from folk epics and dances to weaving and the production and playing of musical instruments. The SLTs have been set up mainly for indigenous peoples (IPs) and for Muslims, although I think it might be time as well to put up SLTs for other groups such as Tagalogs, Kapampangans and many more that are or may be at even greater risk of losing traditional knowledge than the IPs and Muslims.

One particular SLT booth caught my eye with its embroidered clothes, colors and designs, so alive they seemed ready to jump at you. The booth was managed by the SLT from Calinog, Iloilo, featuring the Panay Bukidnon. There, I ended up interviewing Rennel Su-ay Lavilla, who wasn’t just selling the products but, it turned out, had also done several of the embroidered blouses and shirts.

He had brought out what he called a panyo, a large handkerchief used in courtship dances, a woman signaling her interest — or lack thereof — in the suitor with the way she would handle the panyo.

Rennel’s description of the panyo dance jogged my memory: One of our faculty in the College of Music, Ma. Cristina Muyco, did extensive research among the Panay Bukidnon and wrote a book, “Sibod,” about some of her findings. I mentioned her name, and Rennel’s eyes lit up as he talked about her work as well as that of Prof. Alicia Magos, a retired anthropology professor from University of the Philippines Iloilo.

After attending the fair, I emailed Professor Muyco about her Panay Bukidnon friends, and she sent me more information. It turns out that this particular SLT has the good fortune of having as hantup or elder artist a Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan or National Living Treasure no less, Federico Caballero. Federico’s brother, Leopoldo, is also a hantup. Federico’s daughter, Rowena, was also at the booth, very unassuming but also very accomplished, having learned her craft from her father and her mother Lucia.

I wore my anthropologist hat and had Rennel explain to me all the meanings of panubok, the embroidered work: mountains and trails, fern borders and flowers marking the seasons (including the season for courtship). Grass, because it takes so long to dry out, represents longevity. The eye of the wild pigeon, matang punay, represents gentleness.

One of the shirts had a brand tag attached, and I asked him if he had started his own line of apparel. He laughed and replied he had bought the shirt from a store and added the embroidery. I was thrilled: This is the kind of value-added work that is still weak among our small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs. I figured the shirt was probably a hundred or two hundred pesos at most, but with the embroidery…

But Rennel is not about to go the way of mass-producing RTW shirts. He brought out a red shirt made of abaca, again with exquisite embroidery. Rennel said the demand for abaca shirts is dwindling, but he felt he had to continue producing them together with the panubok.

We got back to talking about Panay Bukidnon culture, and I thought of how Rennel was becoming a cultural specialist—at the age of 17! This guy dances, sings (he’s learning a Panay Bukidnon epic chant that takes, get hold of yourself, a year to chant), and even makes musical instruments. Rennel boasted that the Panay Bukidnon has one of the largest subing or jaw harp (I prefer this term to Jew’s harp) in the country.

In the past, many IPs would select young girls as binukot and have them sequestered for several years to learn a village’s music, dance, poetry, folklore. I asked Rennel if they still had binukot among the Panay Bukidnon and he said, no more, everyone wants to get to college.

Which I think is a good thing.

Rennel is proof the SLTs can still catch young people’s interest and have them become part of the preservation of cultures and traditions, in a dynamic way.

Rennel will be graduating from senior high school in 2021, with plans to take up political science and, later, law. I teased him about his possibly becoming, someday, a lawyer—and a national artist.

mtan@inquirer.com.ph