It surpasses the expectations of a heritage house, positioning itself as a cradle for the advancement of traditional arts and innovative methods – these are my initial thoughts after touring with Ms. Anna India Dela Cruz-Legazpi – one of the heirs of the Baeay Pinamana in Kalibo, Aklan. During the Aklan province segment of the Community Based Tourism (CBT) Project of the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), we are able to set foot and marvel at the captivating history of this heritage house.
THE CREATIVE ANCESTRY
It is believed to be one of the first houses erected during the late 1940s on this very street which was renamed many times, until the current Desposorio Maagma Street. It is built and owned by a skillful carpenter patriarch, Macario “Cayo” M. Dela Cruz, and a loom weaver matriarch, Irene “Ine” M. Aguirre, who happens to be the grandparents of Ms. Anna India – a clan that speaks great craftsmanship. Now still standing amidst human and natural adversities with the original concrete ground floor and the wooden upper deck, the grand work of restoring is part of the unspoken inheritance to the clan’s younger generation. The main roof is restored to a modern galvanized roof for fire safety. I can only imagine if the walls could speak the stories that helped shape a part of Kalibo’s cultural, industrial, and political history.
THE NARRATIVE OF AKLAN’S NINETEEN MARTYRS
One of their ancestors is among the famed 19 Katipuneros martyrs executed by the Spaniards in the year 1897, Roman Aguirre, the father of the loom weaver Ine Aguirre. An official marker stands a few strides away from the ancestral home in honor of their martyrdom.
Understanding its historical value, one from the younger generation took the spearheading to restore the ancestral house only to be pushed back for years by the tragic death of their only young son to cancer. To help the patriarch in solitude, he continued with the restoration project since the house holds many memories with his parents and grandparents.
THE PINANUBLI ART GALLERY
The Art Gallery became one of the formidable yet humble hub for young local visual artists to hold exhibits. As such, the clan is able to foster an environment to create more success stories through their restored Pinamana House.
The heritage house is now clad in a white facade, except for the Capiz windows left in their original form. There are about three main entrances installed with thick wooden doors that almost took a toll through the years. There are tables and seats to accommodate guests’ lounging needs or a place where artists can engage with their clients.
The Art Gallery is located on the concrete ground floor featuring the masterpieces of visual artists in Aklan. Magnificent and breathtaking paintings and sculptures adore the walls and display counters of the old house. The paintings range from still life to fantasy, portraits, and detailed landscapes. The Upper deck features complete loom weaving equipment, along with the art pieces of Ms. Anna India and products from Piña fiber such as coin purses and gadget sleeves. The Upper Deck still bears its original wood flooring and beams. Above us is a lattice of net and bamboo strips as the ceiling which provides better ventilation.
For instance, an art exhibit income stream was shared with a toddler-aged Cancer patient in Iloilo they call Mat-mat. The Art Gallery Idea could also be stemmed from the clan’s rich and bold artistry background. Hailing from a skilled carpenter and loom weaver, they produced a clan of law practitioners, writers, educators, visual artists, and public servants. One of them is Ms. Anna India – a visual artist and a heritage loom weaver. She is a UST Fine Arts alumni with a knack also on oriental art expression.
SHOWCASING THE ART OF PIÑA WEAVING
According to Ms. Anna, she returned to her hometown from Western countries to heed the calling of preserving their heritage craft – the Piña Fiber Loom weaving. During her spirited storytelling, whenever she lose focus on her advocacy, a dream of her weeping grandmother would wake her back to the calling. When she can earn much dollars for a more comfortable living, however, she chooses a benevolent path to consume her creative energy in preserving as much heritage crafts as she can. Ms. Anna India belongs to a five-generation weavers.
Being an entrepreneur herself, she mustered almost 250 strong manpower in the weaving industry, only to be drastically reduced by the pandemic, down to merely 12. Among these 12 manpower, only a handful of 5 can weave the 3 traditional loom techniques – the ring-geh (Open Work Technique), pil-li (Inlaid weaving), and sombrado (very fine patchwork). With an evidently dwindling interest of today’s generation in tedious heritage handicrafts, Ms. Anna India continually thinks of innovative ways to attract attention and support, as well as to keep up with the ever-evolving modern demands. One, in particular, is developing the Pina Seda process, a fabric made by blending pineapple fibers and silk fibers, thus, creating a more lustrous and velvety touch. Having the weaving loom at the wooden upper deck of the Pinamana House provides an opportunity for visitors and guests to marvel at such intricate yet lovely art of Piña weaving. Additionally, through this CBT event, Sir Alberto Gadia of TPB has shared the idea to make souvenir items made from Piña cloth for guests to bring home that is uniquely Aklan-made. This stemmed when Ms. Anna mentioned that she created one-of-a-kind headdress during the Ati Atihan Festival season.
THE TEDIOUS PROCESS OF PAGHABOE (WEAVING)
The precious Piña fiber is harvested from a chosen pineapple variety – the Spanish Red or pinya bisaya. After 18 months of maturity, the fibers are harvested from the leaves through repeated scraping with blunt instruments such as porcelain shards as first step, pagkigue. Two fibre grades can be produced from the leaves – the fine liniwan, only lifts away from the leaf after strenuous scraping and produces about one-fourth ratio per leaf, while the course bastos fiber, about the remaining three-fourths, which is used for twine or string-making. The delicate fibers are dried and individually hand-knotted to a single long filament in the pag-panug-ot process.
Creating the spool of piña threads is called pagtalinuas. This filament is threaded onto the loom by piece. The dainty nature of the piña filament or threads makes the weaving process, paghaboe, slow and tedious as weavers would constantly mend broken filaments. The woven textile produces a semi-stiff and translucent fabric which is commonly used in making traditional Barong Tagalogs and other garments.
EXPORT QUALITY AND ELITE’S CHOICE OF FABRIC
Currently, some of their finished fabrics are ordered from Taal in Batangas and Lumban in Laguna where the fabrics will be treated with another tedious and intricate heritage craftsmanship – the hand embroidery, thus, increasing even more its value to the market. Additionally, the Piña cloth is being exported internationally to Western countries of Europe and North America. Because of its scarcity and delicately stiff texture, the Piña cloth is considered as the Queen of Philippine Fabrics. With its pricing value, the majority who can afford this highly prized cloth belongs to the well-off and elite class.
THE CLICHÉ
Part of the ancestral house complex, more of their cousins have turned the right ground floor portion into a snack house serving some heirloom recipes. A part of their story speaks the cliche, “In every tragedy, there is an opportunity.” After much death, adversities, and natural catastrophes, the direct descendants kept moving forward and thought about how they could give back to their community. That merely 80 square meters of ancestral space, albeit meager, but the advocacy to keep Aklan’s heritage industries alive and breathing means the world.