TIMELINE

GAMABA AWARDEEES
As envisioned under R.A. 7355, “Manlilikha ng Bayan” shall mean a citizen engaged in
any traditional art uniquely Filipino whose distinctive skills have reached such a high
level of technical and artistic excellence and have been passed on to and widely
practiced by the present generation in his/her community with the same degree of
technical and artistic competence.

Name: Ginaw Bilog

Date/ Year Awarded: 1993
Category: literature
short description why he received the award: Ginaw Bilog,
Hanunoo Mangyan from Mansalay, Mindoro, grew up in such
a cultural environment. Already steeped in the wisdom that
the ambahan is a key to the understanding of the Mangyan
soul, Ginaw took it upon himself to continually keep scores
of ambahan poetry recorded, not only on bamboo tubes but
on old, dog-eared notebooks passed on to him by friends.

Name: Masino Intaray

Date/ Year Awarded: 1993
Category: Musician and Storyteller (performing arts)
short description why he received the award: He has the
creative memory, endurance, clarity of intellect and spiritual
purpose that enable him to chant all through the night, for
successive nights, countless tultul (epics), sudsungit
(narratives), and tuturan (myths of origin and teachings of
ancestors).

Name: Samaon Sulaiman

Date/ Year Awarded: 1993
Category: Musician
short description why he received the award: Samaon
Sulaiman achieved the highest level of excellence in the
art of kutyapi playing. His extensive repertoire of
dinaladay, linapu, minuna, binalig, and other forms and
styles interpreted with refinement and sensitivity fully
demonstrate and creative and expressive possibilities of
his instrument.
Name: Lang Dulay
Date/ Year Awarded: 1998
Category: Textile Weaver
short description why he received the award: Using abaca
fibers as fine as hair, Lang Dulay speaks more eloquently than
words can. Images from the distant past of her people, the
Tbolis, are recreated by her nimble hands – the crocodiles,
butterflies, and flowers, along with mountains and streams, of
Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, where she and her ancestors were
born – fill the fabric with their longing to be remembered.
Through her weaving, Lang Dulay does what she can to keep
her people’s traditions alive.
Name: Salinta Monon
Date/ Year Awarded: 1998
Category: Textile Weaver
short description why he received the award: Salinta
maintains a pragmatic attitude towards the fact that she
and her younger sister may be the only Bagobo weavers
left, the last links to a colorful tradition among their
ancestors that had endured throughout the Spanish and
American colonization periods, and survived with a
certain vigor up to the late 1950s. She said that if
someone wants to learn, she will teach them.

NATIONAL LIVING TREASURES

 TIMELINE
GAMABA AWARDEEES
As envisioned under R.A. 7355, “Manlilikha ng Bayan” shall mean a citizen engaged in
any traditional art uniquely Filipino whose distinctive skills have reached such a high
level of technical and artistic excellence and have been passed on to and widely
practiced by the present generation in his/her community with the same degree of
technical and artistic competence.

Name: Alonzo Saclag

Date/ Year Awarded: 2000
Category: Musician and Dancer, Kalinga
short description why he received the award: His campaigns
have brought him to schools where he discusses various issues
with administrators. One striking result of these efforts is the
children’s practice of donning the Kalinga costume for important
school events such as graduation and First Communion. To
celebrate indigenous values, he puts up skits and other creative
presentations in various schools. At his cue, the mountains seem
to resound as elementary schoolchildren learn the folk songs
their parents and grandparents once sang.
Name: Federico Caballero
Date/ Year Awarded: 2000
Category: Epic Chanter
short description why he received the award: In his own way, Nong
Pedring strives to dispense justice in the community through his work as a
manughusay – an arbiter of conflicts. In the days before the advent of the
local government system, arbiters like him were consulted on matters
concerning family, neighbor relations, and property. Nong Pedring willingly
assists, believing this to be the better way. He feels disputes need to be
discussed by those concerned at the level of the local government. He
disagrees with the rashness of immediately going to the courts without
attempting any resolution.

Name: Uwang Ahadas

Date/ Year Awarded: 2000
Category: Musician
short description why he received the award: His purpose carries
him beyond the borders of Lamitan to the other towns of Basilan
where Uwang always finds a warm welcome from students, young and
old, who eagerly await his coming. His many travels have blessed him
with close and enduring ties with these people. Many of his onetime
apprentices have come into their own have gained individual renown in
the Yakan community. He declares, with great pride, that they are
frequently invited to perform during the many rituals and festivals
that mark the community calendar.
Name: Darhata Sawabi
Date/ Year Awarded: 2004
Category: Textile Weaver
short description why he received the award: Sawabi
remains faithful to the art of pis syabit weaving. Her strokes
are firm and sure, her color sensitivity acute, and her
dedication to the quality of her products unwavering. She
recognizes the need for her to remain in the community and
continue with her mission to teach the art of pis syabit
weaving. She had, after all, already been teaching the young
women of Parang how to make a living from their woven
fabrics.
Name: Eduardo Mutuc
Date/ Year Awarded: 2004
Category: Metalsmith
short description why he received the award: ccording to
him, craftsmanship begins with respect for one’s tools and the
medium. The first thing he teaches his students is how to hold
the chisel and hammer properly to promote ease of use and
prevent fatigue and mistakes because of improper handling. He
also cautions against working with an eye towards easy money.
The only way to improve one’s skills, he says, is to immerse
oneself, learn the technique, and to practice. Only in perfecting
one’s craft can there be real reward.

NATIONAL LIVING TREASURES

 TIMELINE
GAMABA AWARDEEES
As envisioned under R.A. 7355, “Manlilikha ng Bayan” shall mean a citizen engaged in
any traditional art uniquely Filipino whose distinctive skills have reached such a high
level of technical and artistic excellence and have been passed on to and widely
practiced by the present generation in his/her community with the same degree of
technical and artistic competence.

Name: Haja Amina Appi

Date/ Year Awarded: 2004
Category: Mat Weaver
short description why he received the award: Happily, mat
weaving does not seem to be a lost art as all of Haja Amina’s
female children and grandchildren from her female descendants
have taken it up. Although they characterize her as a patient and
gentle teacher, Haja Amina’s passion for perfection shows itself
as she runs a finger alongside the uneven stitching and obvious
patchwork on her apprentices’ work. She is eager to teach, and
looks forward to sharing the art with other weavers.

Name: Teofilo Garcia

Date/ Year Awarded: 2012
Category: Casque Maker
short description why he received the award: He rues the fact
that there is very little interest by other people to make
tabungaws even though it has potential as an export product.
Now that his children are grown up, he has time to teach others
the craft and is looking forward to the possibility. He is also eager
to explore new designs, and he has been innovating on his
traditional designs based on inspirations from his trips to the
nearby provinces.
Name: Magdalena Gamayo
Date/ Year Awarded: 2012
Category: Textile Weaver
short description why he received the award: Magdalena’s
handiworks are finer than most abel –her blankets have a very
high thread count and her designs are the most intricate and can
sometimes take up to five colors. Making sure the right colored
threads are spaced evenly and keeping accurate count is a
challenge that Magdalena has always unerringly met. The beauty
of her designs lies in how delicate the patterns are, and yet how
uniform the weave.
Name: Ambalang Ausalin
Date/ Year Awarded: 2016
Category: Textile Weaver
short description why he received the award: The tennun Yakan is an
extraordinarily important manifestation of Yakan culture. Its categories,
colors, designs or motifs, and significance will constantly remind
Ambalang, in her outstanding handwork, what it means to be Yakan —
people of the earth. Through her craft, Ambalang as a’a pandey
megtetennun (an expert weaver), affirms their identity as a people who
continuously weave the threads of culture, interlacing past, present, and,
hopefully, the future, in becoming a cultural treasure for the new
generation Yakan, for all Filipinos, and all humankind.

Name: Estelita Bantilan

Date/ Year Awarded: 2004
Category: Mat weaver
short description why he received the award: ccording to him, craftsmanship
begins with respect for one’s tools and the medium. The first thing he teaches his
students is how to hold the chisel and hammer properly to promote ease of use and
prevent fatigue and mistakes because of improper handling. He also cautions
against working with an eye towards easy money. The only way to improve one’s
skills, he says, is to immerse oneself, learn the technique, and to practice. Only in
perfecting one’s craft can there be real reward.
Name: Yabing Masalon Dulo
Date/ Year Awarded: 2016
Category: Ikat Weaver
short description why he received the award: Yabing Dulo believes herself older
than ninety. Her identity card marks that age, however, and date of birth, the
fourteenth of August supposedly 1910. Since the venerable ikat-dyer has a
memory sharper than blades, it seems always best to follow her counsel. She does
know for a fact that she was born in a place already called Landan in that long ago
time. The exact sitio was and is still named Amgu-o, a settlement of a few related
families within Landan, today a barangay, a constituent unit of a town. During the
early twentieth century, Amgu-o was a cluster of houses thoroughly unconnected
to the national political organization.