Maguindanao urged to involve Moro rebels in promoting local fabric

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Unemployed Moro rebels the government is helping reintegrate into mainstream society stand to benefit from the centuries-old Inaul fabric industry benefactors are now trying to keep alive.

Peace activists and traders on Friday urged provincial officials overseeing the ongoing February 9 to 14 first ever Maguindanao “Inaul Festival” to involve local Moro forces in reviving the traditional craft.

The colorful Inaul cloth hit the news when it was featured by designers in a Mindanao-themed Miss Universe fashion show in Davao City in January.

Sandra Siang, president of the Kutawato Muslim Business Chamber, said providing impoverished Moro villagers with employment via the inaul industry will boost the efforts of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in restoring normalcy in conflict-stricken areas.

“There is no doubt the industry will get a boost especially if entrepreneurs can tap Moro rebels and their families as production partners,” Siang said.

Siang, a hardware store owner, said she and her colleagues are thankful to the provincial government for embarking on the Inaul Festival to introduce to the international community an iconic fabric now a favorite of many fashion designers.

“We support this activity. This will show that we are not at all behind `industry-wise.’ We have this industry that was started by our ancestors and is now becoming known to the international community through the efforts of our present leaders,” said Siang, who is of Maguindanaon descent.

Siang said they can help Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, a key proponent of the Inaul festival, to introduce to the international community the Inaul fabric through their friends and partners abroad.

The Inaul Festival kicked off Thursday with a parade in the provincial capital, Buluan town, of thousands of participants and guests wearing Moro attires with Inaul accents.

Mangudadatu said they are expecting national and foreign dignitaries to come to Buluan, venue of the festival, to watch cultural programs highlighting the event.

Maguindanao province has been having a Sagayan Festival every February since 2011 that featured only common cultural shows and a Sagayan dance contest.

The Maguindanaon Sagayan war dance dramatically depicts the bravery and preparedness of the tribe to defend community honor, territory and religion.

Officials renamed this year’s supposed Sagayan event to Inaul Festival to highlight the fabric Maguindanaons have been weaving using traditional wooden looms for generations.

Mangudadatu said he is keen on helping expand the Inaul weaving industry to areas where there are rebel forces that rely mainly on farming as primary source of income.

“If they have additional income, they can provide their children with better education. After planting rice and corn, they can engage in weaving of Inaul cloth while waiting for the harvest season,” Mangudadatu said.

Bobby Benito, executive director of the Regional Reconciliation and Unification Commission in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said any program meant to improve the productivity of members of the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front will help foster normalcy in areas badly affected by armed conflicts in decades past.

“As I see it, having been involved in various-peace programs for many years now, indigenous crafts are easier to patronize and improve because these are attached to the local communities historically and culturally. These are industries that are not new to them,” Benito said.

He said he is grateful to the provincial government for embarking recently on a special training on Inaul weaving, along with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, for more than a hundred ethnic Maguindanaon women.

“These are the interventions that can help improve the lives of Moro people whose socio-economic development was stunted by armed conflicts in the past,” Benito said.

Businessman Pete Marquez said he wants Mangudadatu to issue a directive enjoining employees of local government units and personnel of the provincial government to wear Inaul-inspired attires when they attend official gatherings and special activities outside of the province.

“We, non-Maguindanaons, can also do that just to help the office of Gov. Mangudadatu `create noise’ on what Inaul fabric is all about. It is about the cultures and traditions of the Maguindanaon people and their nation,” said Marquez, who is a member of prominent business blocs in Administrative Region 12.