living treasures

The story of abaca in Negros Island reaches back beyond living memory. Many believe it predates Spanish colonization, and local communities already wore clothes out of this wild banana species.

When I returned to Dumaguete City and began work as a researcher last year, I sifted through resources and spoke with people who pointed me toward this humble yet remarkable fiber. That search eventually led me to a story I had never heard before: pinakang. 

Pinakang is the laborious art of softening and smoothening abaca weave (sinamay) by soaking it in vats of natural solution, drying, and pounding with heavy wooden mallets. The result is a finer fabric unlike any other. The catch? There is only one person left in the entire region who still does this work masterfully, someone that even weavers and traders from as far as Manila and Cebu seek out.

Her name is Antonia “Minyang” Waro of Brgy. Calayugan in the municipality of Valencia. At 84 years old, with almost no written records about her or pinakang, her fading presence struck me with urgency.

So in the past five days, I set out on a fieldwork to learn about this overlooked heritage. What I found went far deeper—into an industry that has grown increasingly fragile, into environmental concerns that threaten the abaca itself, and into stories of people who still hold the threads of this tradition.

All this led me to the prized laob variety, source of the finest abaca fiber called bitool. To farmers Christopher and Candelario Nuay of Brgy. Malaunay who still practice pag-kige, the manual stripping of fibers. To mamisi-ay or abaca rope-maker Rottie Mendez in Brgy. Jawa, one of the last in her line. To Ricardo “Titing” Bantaya, once a farmer, now a trader of this sought-after fiber. To Lindon Escalante, Valencia’s agriculturist, who faces the challenge of dying abacas. To Nena Locsin of the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority, whose work tirelessly protects and sustains what remains of the industry.

From one woman’s memory of pinakang, I discovered countless strands waiting to be woven together. This story will take time to unravel.

[ More photos here ]