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Zamboanga: Yakan Weavers of Basilan
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Both the Tbolis and Yakans takes weeks to finish a meter of weaved cloth and skills and knowledge are passed down from one generation to another. The difference here is that the Yakans, when weaving their clothes also incorporate the design along with it. Using both fine abaca strands and pineapple fibers along with herbal extracts and tree barks for dying numerous colors for their designs.
A Yakan weaver must exercise patience especially when working with intricate patterns. A simple square pattern can take a couple of days or so. That’s why a Yakan Weaved cloth are also sought after around the world is due to its fine and durable craftsmanship. I can attest to this inspecting them myself and bought some items like a bag and a small coin purse and found its make to be really tough.
It’s fortunate the Yakans were able to take with them their culture and art outside their homeland of Basilan. Most of them now live in a Yakan Weaving Village in Zamboanga. Honestly it was a bit tricky finding them, even our local jeepney driver guide wasn’t sure where it was. But through persistence and asking around we found the so called weaving village just a few kilometers passing by the Zamboanga Boulevard. I’m not even sure if this is the real village but they are Yakans alright with several houses there and souvenir shops… (More…)
Full Story: http://www.ironwulf.net/2007/10/21/zamboanga-yakan-weavers-of-basilan/
P4.5B from VAT for anti-poverty projects
MANILA, Philippines — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has earmarked a P4.5-billion windfall from collections of the Value Added Tax (VAT) for various poverty-alleviation projects, officials said.
At the same time, Cabinet official firmed up livelihood projects and emergency job programs for the poor and middle class who could be hit by the global financial crisis, officials said.
The government’s VAT collections reached P22 billion in the third quarter, overshooting the P13.98-billion target and resulting in a P8.1 billion windfall, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said.
Of the P8.1 billion, P4 billion was allotted for pro-poor projects with another P500-million from the second quarter windfall added, Teves told a news conference at the Palace.
The government will spend P2 billion for the Department of Agriculture’s FIELDS (fertilizer, irrigation, extension, loans, dryers and other post harvest facilities and hybrid seeds) program, Teves said.
A supplemental feeding program and an early recovery fund for conflict-affected areas will each get P500 million, Teves added.
The P500 power subsidy for households consuming the least electricity will receive P400 million, while the competitiveness fund of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will get P600 million, he said.
The government will spend the remaining P500 million to build school houses, Teves said.
“The bigger picture is, because of the difficult times and because of the katas [fruits] of VAT, we have funds to focus on the most vulnerable sectors of society,” Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said.
Dureza could not immediately give an estimate of the cost of the livelihood and emergency jobs projects, funding for which will be sourced from the savings of line agencies.
He said each Cabinet member was assigned a region. Being a native of Davao, the Press Secretary said he was assigned to Region XI or the Davao Region.
Teves said he was assigned to Negros Island in the Central Visayas.
In his area of assignment, Dureza said he has readied a “Bantay Dagat [Sea Watch]” which will draft the poor to guard against pollution and illegal fishing.
The middle class, he said, will be involved in the trade department’s “One Town, One Product” program, and could be employed as eco-tourism guides.
Teves said he was looking at piggeries in his area.
Sustainable Coastal Resource Management Program
The Sustainable Coastal Resource Management Program is a community-based, participatory and holistic approach to coastal resource management. It is communitybased because it seeks the empowerment of coastal communities as a strategy to address the problems of irrational property and management regimes dominating the use of the bay which is largely the reason for the proliferation of destructive fishing practices, over fishing and resource depletion. Victimized by unscrupulous traders and profit-hungry commercial fishing operators, the fishers are the most badly affected by the ecological crisis brought by the degradation of the bay. While it expresses bias towards the subsistence or artisanal fishers, the community approach also seeks out the involvement of vital sectors such as the women, youth, small business and enlightened lawmakers. The subsistence fishers by their sheer number as well as their inherent capacity to manage their main source of livelihood are in the most vantage position to look after the bay… (More…)
Full Story: http://www.irdfphil.org/docs/02.pdf
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