Dayaw now on 7th season

MANILA, Philippines — “You’re missing half of your life if you haven’t watched it.”

That’s what former senator and now Deputy Speaker and Antique Rep. Loren Legarda quipped in reaction to a statement that there are some who are still in the dark on what Dayaw is all about during a media gathering held recently.

Dayaw is a documentary series on Philippine indigenous peoples and culture conceptualized and hosted by Legarda. The project is a collaboration of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC). The first series was aired in October 2015.

This year, Dayaw is entering its seventh season which premieres today. Legarda, who has always been a staunch advocate of promoting indigenous culture and preserving Filipino heritage, stressed the importance of keeping Philippine arts, culture and tradition alive. In fact, during her time as a senator, she was able to file over 300 bills, including a bill for the creation of a folk art museum mandating every local government to set up a traditional arts museum in every locality. She, too, filed a bill mandating that LGUs must do cultural mapping.

Legarda is confident that today’s generation will gain knowledge from the show that highlights our arts and culture. Millennials, she said, are interested in everything that’s happening and “this is something new to them because obviously all of us were not born when the indigenous peoples had their culture. So, I guess (this appeals to them) and the fact that we receive a lot of favorable feedback online means we’re being watched from all walks of life and all generations.”

She hopes Dayaw will go beyond our generation as it documents our living traditions, national living treasures, as well as our intangible and tangible heritage.

In first episode of the docu-series, viewers will meet the Dumagat of Bulacan whose youth are still taught about the language of leaves and other deeper aspects of music and dance.

In Negros Occidental, Dayaw will show how the Ati or Aetas are working to preserve their language and weaving as a means of livelihood.

Other episodes will focus on the new recipients of the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan or National Living Treasures Award. They are master weaver Estelita Bantilan from Sarangani; healer, medium and Blaan people matriarch Yabing Masalon Dulo, South Cotabato; and Yakan traditional artist, musician Uwang Ahadas, and weaver Ambalang Ausalin, Basilan.

Legarda is hoping that with the continued partnership of her office and the NCCA for Dayaw, more Filipinos, especially the young, will be encouraged to appreciate and love our own cultural heritage.

(Dayaw airs Thursday nights at 8:30 beginning tonight.)