Legarda Invites Filipinos to Visit Weaving Demos at the National Museum

MANILA-Senator Loren Legarda today encouraged Filipinos to visit the Hibla ng Lahing Filipinogallery at the National Museum in Manila every weekend to witness various weaving traditions continuously being practiced in indigenous communities in the country.

“As part of efforts to raise awareness on our culture of weaving and to ensure its continuity, the National Museum is organizing events that will further promote this tradition. From September to November this year, weavers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will showcase their weaving traditions. I hope that Filipinos would be able to visit the Hibla gallery and witness these weaving demonstrations,” said Legarda, patron of Hibla, the country’s first permanent textile gallery.

For the month of September, weavers from Cordillera showcased their tradition, starting with Ifugao weavers from Kiangan, who demonstrated their craft last September 6 and 7, and Kalinga Weavers from Mabilong Weaving Center of Buscalan, who showed their distinctive weaving design and pattern last September 21-22.

Weavers from Samoki, Mountain Province will demonstrate a distinctive style of weaving on a back-strap loom on September 27-28.

For October and November, the National Museum invited weavers from Sagada as well as those from the Panay Island and Mindanao.

Weavers from Arevalo, Iloilo will demonstrate Sinamay weaving; the Indag-an Cooperative in Miag-ao, Iloilo will showcase patadyong weaving and its innovations; weavers from Bagaton, Bugasong in Antique will show their own style of patadyong weaving; and members of the Panay Bukidnon community will demonstrate their panubok embroidery.

Meanwhile, Maranao weavers from Tugaya in Lanao Del Sur will show their traditional back-strap loom weaving known as dagmay and langsay; weavers from the T’boli Weaving Center in Davao will feature their ikat weaving process on abaca textile; weavers from the Yakan Weaving Center in Zamboanga City will demonstrate their expertise in creating patterns from supplementary warp weaving; and Zamboanga-based Tausug weavers of Pis Siyabit will showcase their craft.

The weaving demonstrations can be viewed from 1:00-5:00 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays, at the Hibla gallery, located at the 4^th Floor of the Museum of the Filipino People, Finance Road, Manila.

“These weaving demonstrations reveal the richness of our culture. We have many other weaving traditions as we see the various kinds of weaving patterns and designs in the textiles and items at the Hibla gallery. We will continue to collaborate with the National Museum in organizing more events that will heighten the awareness and renew the interest of Filipinos in our indigenous culture and heritage,” said Legarda.

In 2012, Legarda and the National Museum organized a lecture series on Philippine Traditional Textiles and Indigenous Knowledge, which included lectures from Dr. Maria Stanyukovich of Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in Russia; Dr. Lynne Milgram of Ontario College in Toronto; Dr. Patcharawee Tunprawat, a specialist in Cultural Heritage Management based in Bangkok; Hoang Thi To Quyen and Nguyen Thi Tuan Linh of the Vietnam Musem of Ethnology; and Sonja Garcia, along with members of the Tudaya School of Living Tradition of the Bagobo Tagabawa Community who demonstrated weaving and making dyes from natural sources.

P29.8-M JICA-funded projects benefit 4,900 townsfolk in Ecija town

ZARAGOZA, Nueva Ecija – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the municipal government unveiled here on Thursday P29.8-million worth of projects funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) covering a farm-to-market road (FMR), potable water system (PWS) and day-care centers (DCCs) benefiting 4,904 local residents in two Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs).

DAR regional director for Central Luzon Arnel Dizon led the launch of the projects at the municipal gymnasium along with DAR provincial agrarian reform officer (PARO) 2 Romeo Cordero, PARO 1 Jocelyn Ramones, Mayor Lovella Belmonte-Espiritu and other local officials.

The projects consist of the 2.6-kilometer, P18.5-million FMR in barangays Sta. Lucia Young and Old covered by the ARC, PWS for 216 households in Sta. Lucia Old and the repair and renovation of day-care centers in all 19 barangays of this third-class town.

ARCs refer to a cluster of barangays provided support services by the DAR.

Belmonte-Espiritu said the three projects are high-impact projects, particularly the FMR which enables 3,794 local residents to have access to good roads and hasten the transport of agricultural produce from the farms to the market.

The economy of this town, covering a population of 42,217 and a household population of 9,874, is largely agricultural with 6,246 hectares out of land area devoted to farming.

Belmonte-Espiritu said that prior to the completion of the road, local residents have been enduring the dirt road, particularly during the rainy season when it gets muddy.

“The local residents have suffered long and hard waiting for the road network to be concreted. It has been a long wait. Now, they can finally cross the road in the two barangays without having to worry about the bad road condition,” she said.

Cordero said the three projects are under the Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project (ARISP) of the DAR whose scope covers FMR, PWS, communal irrigation system (CIS), agriculture and agribusiness development (AAD) and institutional development (ID); and other program components such as the grassroots participatory planning and budgeting (GPPB) and ARCCESS covering mechanized palay production.

ARISP is a JICA-funded project wherein the local government unit (LGU) and recipient shell out their equity.

As its equity for the FMR, the municipal government has earmarked P2.4 million and also bankrolled  four other road projects spanning 15 kilometers worth P17 million.

For the PWS, the municipal government also allocated P2.5 million as its share for the establishment of an elevated water tank for 216 households.

Belmonte-Espiritu said that for the DCCs,  914 children under the day-care service will be the principal beneficiaries of the project worth P950,000.

She said over the last three years, the town has been the recipient of various projects funded by both the national and provincial governments involving a P10-million flood control project, nutrition, disaster preparedness, infrastructure and education.

She said that Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali  has extended to the municipal government projects involving the construction of gymnasium cum evacuation center, and several bags of cement for its “Bayanihan” road-concreting project in the barangays, scholarship programs for poor but deserving students and assistance to senior citizens.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development, she noted, has also released a P1.2 million-check for supplemental feeding and hog dispersal.

Belmonte-Espiritu added that the AECID or the Spanish Cooperation Agency for International Development also gave a P4-million grant to the town for disaster preparedness.

Jocelyn Ramones, provincial agrarian reform officer 1, said that early this month, they also turned over a P4.5-million water systems project to the Canaan West Potable Water Service Cooperative (CWPWSC) in Rizal town.

The project, completed in partnership with Rizal Mayor Rafaelito Andres, enabled 130 households to now avail of clean, potable water in the said town.

          Ramones said the project was the second to have been turned over by the DAR in Rizal following the P18-million 5.37-kilometer FMR which connected the town’s four barangays of Canaan East, Canaan West, Casiligan and Gen. Luna. (Manny Galvez)

Legarda: Let Us Do More To Address Climate Change, Disaster Risks

MANILA-Senator Loren Legarda today renewed her call for greater climate action not only from the international community, the national government and concerned sectors but also from every citizen.

Legarda, United Nations Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Asia-Pacific, noted that in the speech of President Benigno Aquino III before his fellow heads of state at the UN Climate Summit in New York, he urged his fellow leaders to have “a change in mindset from arguing over the division of work to one where we’ll do the maximum we can.”

Legarda said that Filipinos should likewise have a change in attitude.

“We must be the change we seek. With all the disasters that we have experienced, we have to be concerned and get involved now. We must do more and do everything we can to address climate change,” she stressed.

“We could have reduced the volume of floodwaters, if not completely prevent flooding, caused by the recent Typhoon Mario, which was enhanced by the Southwest Monsoon, if we have been faithfully implementing the Solid Waste Management Law and if we all do our share in protecting our environment,” she added.

The Senator said that the Climate Change Act, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, and the People’s Survival Fund Act, as well as other environmental laws, should all be fully operational and implemented down to the local level.

Legarda said local-based resilience strategy should be strengthened, especially that the People’s Survival Fund now has one billion in programmed funds under the proposed 2015 national budget intended to finance climate change adaptation activities of local governments and organizations.

She also said that she is hopeful for a significant progress in the global climate action as many world leaders who attended the UN Climate Summit renewed their commitment to cut down carbon emissions and to contribute to the Green Climate Fund, which supports climate adaptation programs of developing countries.

“We continue to hope that industrialized countries would commit to ambitious sustainable development goals such as deep cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions and significant technological and financial assistance to countries which remain poor and vulnerable to disasters. But as we demand bold global climate action, we must equally demand from ourselves involvement in adaptation, mitigation and resilience efforts in our respective communities,” Legarda concluded.