On the 24th celebration of the Cordillera Day in Baay-Licuan in Abra, different organizations took advantage of the crowded event by selling their products not only to generate income but more importantly, to promote their campaigns.

BAAY-LICUAN, Abra -- Souvenirs here, there and everywhere.

On the 24th celebration of the Cordillera Day in Baay-Licuan in Abra, different organizations took advantage of the crowded event by selling their products not only to generate income but more importantly, to promote their campaigns.

Aside from propaganda T-shirts and compact discs of songs about migration, Migrante International members also sold dangling earrings. But these were not for fashion purposes alone. Some of the earrings were made by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who were in distress in a foreign country and were accommodated at the Migrante office upon their deportation back to the Philippines. Making earrings was a form of therapy for OFWs and for Migrante members as well after periods of intense pressure and campaigns.

Instead of using a simple carton & plastic bag for packing the earrings, Migrante used a post card bearing their campaign calls, “ End the violence, Justice for all women migrant domestic workers in the Saudi Arabia & the entire Middle East.” Also printed on the post card were some of the pictures of the abused OFWs like Mylene Mandas and those who died mysteriously such as Catherine Bautista and Louella Montenegro. The post card could be sent to a Philippine consulate/embassy or to a foreign embassy in the Philippines requesting them to investigate and solve the mentioned cases.

Ilocos Sur’s Youth Act Now! showed their creativity by making bamboo necklaces through “solar art.” They curve a piece of bamboo to a desired shape, rectangular or arc, and size, usually about two to three inches long and half an inch wide to create the pendant. The bamboo pendant was then tied with a thin cord. The pendant had pencil drawings of images, symbols or texts. The images were burned on the pendant through the use of magnifying glass, which directed the heat of the sun to the surface of the pendant. Samples of designs included rice, which symbolizes the crisis Filipinos are facing at present, and calls such as “Oust GMA” or “Makibaka”.

There were also bamboo pendants with tribal images like pattong, the traditional dance in the Cordillera, which even non-Cordillera people, including foreign delegates from Canada, Taiwan, Germany, and the United States try to dance gracefully.

Youth Act Now!-Ilocos Sur members also sell hand-made scrap books. Aside from sketching their own designs on the cover, they also made these refillable for long time use.

Other traditional souvenirs were also sold. The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) prepared traditional souvenir T-shirts; but this time, they used the color yellow gold on the print of the shirts, symbolizing their fight against mining, particularly in Mt. Capcapo, in Baay-Licuan, Abra. Printed on the shirt was their call, “Resist mining plunder and state terrorism.”

Tribal materials and artifacts were also available to showcase the Cordillera culture.

There were different colors and designs of woven clothing used to make the traditional attire of various tribes. Delegates from Abra also sold their handmade bolos.

Igorots from Ifugao brought their handcrafted bulul (Igorot rice God). There were seated, piping bulul and warrior bulul with shield and spear accessories. The Igorot vendor said that the piping has been part of their culture.  They believed that through the smoke of the pipe, they could communicate with their dead ancestors and even fight bad spirits around them.

With these souvenirs, money spent is worthwhile. Aside from helping these groups earn a little, patronizing these symbolic souvenirs helps popularize the Cordillera peoples’ culture and struggles. With Aubrey Makilan / Bulatlat