Teofilo Garcia

Casque Maker
2012
Teofilo Garcia was simply a farmer in San Quintin, Abra, he was awarded as a National

Living Treasure or “Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan” on 2012. He was the man making hats out

of vegetables. He is the Tabungaw Hat Maker of San Quintin. Tabungaw is an Ilocano term for

“upo”, also called as Bottle Gourd or White Pumpkin. At the age of 15 he learned that art of

Kattukong or Tabungaw hat making from his grandfather Hipolito.

The art of Tabungaw hat making was created by harvesting vegetables and to be cured

and dried. Then, cut it into half and continued to dry, only the upper half is used to make the

Tabungaw hat. After drying, the Tabungaw is then colored and varnished. The weaving of the

inner casing and lining is next, the woven interior is made of anahaw, nipa, bamboo, and/or

rattan. It is said that it takes at least seven days to finish one Tabungaw hat.