On Yakan master weaver’s death, Basilan mayor suggests new ways of treating national living treasure

By Frencie Carreon

February 20, 2022 | 12:27 AM

ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 19 February) — Residents of Basilan are mourning the death of a national treasure, the master weaver Ambalang Ausalin, Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) 2016 Awardee. But her death has prompted Isabela Mayor, Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, to propose new ways of treating national living treasures beyond showing them off with their handwoven masterpieces. Born on March 4, 1943, Ausalin passed away on Friday at four in the morning in her home at Parangbasak, Lamitan City due to a lingering illness. The City Government of Lamitan issued a statement “mourning the passing of our National Living Treasure” who was “renowned for her mastery of the crafts of sinaluan and saputangan, two of the most intricately designed textiles locally called ‘Tennun’ of the indigenous Yakan community.”

“The tennun is not just weaving, but identity to the Yakan and the Basileño as a whole. And it equates to Apu Ambalang Ausalin,” Basilan Governor Hadjiman Hataman-Salliman, said. Master weaver Ambalang Ausalin, Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) 2016 Awardee, 4 March 1943 to 18 February 2022. “She is one of our pride, and when we decided to institutionalize our intervention on tennun, she is one of our inspirations. She will always be a driving force on the preservation of the Yakan art and culture,” he said in a telephone interview.

For Lamitan Mayor Rose Furigay, “Apu Ambalang’s work was epic, for its sheer beauty and uniqueness, truly a work of art that only a Master Weaver in the highest order can possibly create.” Aileen Ordiales, Dean and Administrator of Lamitan Technical Institute, described her as a “genuine master weaver of Lamitan, a generous down-to-earth person…quite shy.” Journalism student Arreej Musa of Isabela City said Ausalin “preserved the traditional Yakan weaving throughout her entire life.”

Lamentations

Basileña Marsida Mannan was quick to express her sentiment when she heard the news of Ausalin’s death. “Nalungkot ako (I became sad) knowing na isa siya sa tatlong natirang ‘Manlilikha ng Bayan’ or National Living Treasure. We lost one of the Yakan weavers who could teach the proper way of traditional Yakan weaving,” Mannan said, hoping that Ausalin taught many Yakans “to continue and preserve our Yakan weaving.”

Isabela City’s Mayor Hatamna shared that she only knew Ausalin when she began advocating for traditional arts as a congressional representative and she was seeing the weaver in events when she was presented as GAMABA.

“I wanted to learn more of the form and essence of the tennun, so in 2017, I invited her to stay with me in our house in Manila, with the intention of learning to weave. But it was too intricate and hard,” the mayor said. She said Ausalin used to visit her at Isabela City Hall bringing rolls of Yakan cloth produced by her children and the weavers in their weaving center at Parangbasak.

“Many looked at her…but how many saw? Masama ang loob ko, dahil hanggang sa kanyang mga huling araw, ay hindi niya naramdaman ang kanyang halaga (I feel bad because even up to her final days, she did not feel her worth). She was not even aware of it.”

“I think we have to re-evaluate our appreciation of traditional arts, of heritage, and their bearers. They are more than poster images. I wonder if there was even an activity where she was asked to speak of her art, what it meant to her and the identity she represented. Wala (None). I feel like she was really just shown off, para makabenta ng (so as to sell) Yakan (woven) cloth. And I am guilty of that, too, because even if I felt bad about it, I didn’t do anything to stop it or offer an alternative,” the mayor said. “There is a need for reflection,” she stressed.

“Sometimes I felt we only used her, showcased her so we can sell more cloth, or invite more visitors to our island. There were times when I cringed at how she was dolled up and ‘presented’ before a crowd of young and old, whose only interest was have a selfie with a national artist, and appear cool and hip on social media. I feel guilty for having allowed it, but how else should it have been? It was, after all, her role to promote the tennun. Was there a way we could have done it without having treated her like a pop star but as an artist bearer of heritage?” Turabin asked.

“I hope we learn,” she said.

She described the master weaver as a warrior. “She fought for her weaving center…for her community… She fought for her art, and her children. I witnessed her struggle, and while at times I was able to help, there were times when I, too was helpless.”

Recollections

Earl Francis Pasilan, now a faculty member at Ateneo De Zamboanga University recalls that Ausalin “never stopped teaching me about weaving and traditional attire since my childhood days.”

“Of course, she was one of my mentors (on tennun),’ said Pasilan, who was also trained by aunt, Dayang Dayang Sitti Lily Cuevas, the Yakan people’s indigenous princess.

Ausalin had served as weaver and dressmaker making the sawwal (pants) and badju (blouse) of the Yakan royal family, particularly Dayang Dayang Sitti Lily Cuevas in her lifetime.

“I have always loved buying her products knowing its great quality and excellent work. When she reached 77, and when her ailment started to make her weak from weaving, she would just give her daughter Vilma instructions as to how the weave would be executed, as Vilma knew already the technique behind her mother’s work,” Pasilan shared.

Pasilan feels “very honored” to have been part of Ausalin’s journey as GAMABA nominee, to her becoming a national icon, declared and conferred by the President Rodrigo Duterte himself, and is “very much grateful to have met her in this lifetime.” (Fre

ncie Carreon / MindaNews)

Source: https://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2022/02/on-yakan-master-weavers-death-basilan-mayor-suggests-new-ways-of-treating-national-living-treasures /