Promoting Inaul fabric can correct negative views on Bangsamoro, biz club says
February 12, 2017 | 10:26am
Businesswoman Sandra Siang of the Kutawato Muslim Chamber of Commerce walks through the gallery of Inaul-inspired dresses on display in Buluan town, venue of the on-going “Inaul Festival” in Maguindanao province.
John Unson
MAGUINDANAO — The Bangsamoro Business Club on Sunday gestured “two thumbs up” to efforts of keeping the ethnic Maguindanaon Inaul weaving industry alive and known to the global community.
The club’s figurehead, Cotabato City-based merchant Mohammad Pasigan, on Sunday said promoting the Inaul fabric and helping marginalized weavers connect to markets abroad can help correct negative notions on southern Bangsamoro sectors by people outside of Mindanao.
“It can also help create the impression that there is indeed credence in assertions that our people existed as a nation hundreds of years ago because the Inaul cloth was part of the regalia of our sultans and datus way back then,” said Pasigan who is of Maguindanaon-Egyptian descent.
He said the Inaul fabric is a strong icon of the Maguindanaon group in the southern Bangsamoro community, something associated with their tribe that has for generations been thriving via social norms existent still at this time and spiritual standards set by a common religion, Islam.
"We in our club give this initiative of keeping the Inaul industry alive a two thumbs up," Pasigan said.
Provincial officials are banking on the ongoing Maguindanao “Inaul Festival” to bind local noble clans together in helping sustain the fragile peace now in the province.
Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu on Saturday told The Star their initial stride in rallying the sultans and datus behind the Bangsamoro peace process and Malacañang’s anti-narcotics campaign is to gather them in the “Governor’s Night” of the festival on Monday.
The first ever February 9-14 provincial Inaul Festival, intended to highlight the traditional colorful Inaul fabric Maguindanaons have been wearing for generations, is capped off with programs depicting the cultures and traditions of locales.
Starting this year, the Inaul Festival shall be held annually, intended to keep the traditional Inaul fabric weaving industry alive.
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.
“We are expecting the datus and sultans in the Governor’s Night. They will be reminded of how our ancestors cooperated in addressing peace and security issues in ancient times when we converge there wearing Moro attires,” Mangudadatu said.
Mangudadatu is himself a blue-blooded political leader who belong to the Rajah Buayan lineage of the historical Raya Area, the upper valley of Maguindanao, whose datus fought the Spaniards, the Americans and, subsequently, the Japanese during World War II.
Mangudadatu said his administration wants to involve the Moro nobility in activities meant to sustain the dividends of Malacañang’s Southern Mindanao peace process.
“Surely, by cultural and traditional bonds, we can unite and help each other push the anti-narcotics thrust of President Rodrigo Duterte in all of the 36 towns in Maguindanao,” he said.
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