Maguindanao hopeful festival will bring 'inaul' to markets abroad

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Traders are optimistic the second Maguindanao provincial Inaul Festival will help promote the fabric, a centuries-old icon of the Maguindanaon people, to markets abroad.

The provincial government is reviving the inaul weaving industry, pioneered by ancient Moro sultanates, through a yearly festival and through technical training to provide farming families an alternative source of income.

The second Inaul Festival started last Monday but its main cultural events, some to be witnessed by national and foreign dignitaries, are slated February 8 to 14, to be held in the provincial capital of Buluan.

Sandra Siang, an official of the Kutawato Muslim Business Chamber, said Thursday they support the Inaul Festival as a showcase of Maguindanaon craft with potential in domestic and foreign markets.

"Just imagine the employment it can generate if orders from abroad will increase as a result of this second Inaul Festival in Maguindanao. More children in poor villages can go to school and there will be more food on the table of low-income families," said Siang, a hardware store owner.

The Inaul Festival was first held last year as a cultural and trade program of the office of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.

The colorful inaul fabric was in the spotlight during the Mindanao-themed Miss Universe fashion show in Davao City in January 2017.

Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said Thursday generating employment for Maguindanaons via inaul weaving can help improve peace and security in the province.

"Employed people will not do anything that can disturb their means of livelihood. This inaul endeavor is worthy of our support. We are not in the business industry but we know that this is good for the Mindanao peace process," Mijares said.

The government's approach to the Mindanao peace process is partly focused on the restoration of normalcy in troubled southern provinces through socio-economic programs.

Anwar Malang, ARMM’s regional trade secretary, said what makes the inaul fabric fascinatingly unique is the manner how it is produced.

"We’re now in what we call cyber age, or laser age, but the weaving of inaul remains very traditional, done through wooden handlooms. That will surely attract buyers abroad," Malang said.

Duterte invited to festival

Mangudadatu he said he has invited President Duterte and members of his family to grace the “governor’s night” of the Inaul Festival, to be capped off with a fashion show.

The inaul fabric is also known as “peace fabric” owing to its being common to ARMM’s indigenous Iranun, Maguindanaon and Maranao communities.

The three regional groups have different dialects but are bound together by a common religion – Islam.

Contemporary Moro historians said the sultans, when presiding over peace dialogues among warring tribes in ancient times, wore clothes fashioned from inaul and carried a kris as emblems of their authority.

The inaul fabric is made attractive by its colorful accents that always have shades of green, touted as the color of Islam.