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Rep. Villar launches ‘My Journey in the Las Piñas Arts and Crafts Industry’

M E T R O F I L E

01/12/2009

Rep. Cynthia Villar launched recently her book entitled My Journey in the Las Piñas Arts and Crafts Industry. The book, a publication of the Villar Foundation, showcases Villar’s fruitful experiences in crafting opportunities for her constituents to have livelihood by reviving the salt-making tradition, as well as in developing the art of parol-making, handloom weaving, water lily basket weaving, among other things. Saddened that most of the students in Las Piñas are clueless about the salt-making tradition of Las Piñas, Villar spearheaded the revival of Las Piñas salt-making industry with the establishment of the Irasan Center through the assistance of experts from Pangasinan State University. Following the center’s inauguration, Villar narrated “it was a joyous time, for it felt like welcoming back the return of a precious thing which we thought we had lost.” A corollary project, a fish port — where Las Piñas fishermen could dock their bancas and where buyers can buy fish — was also constructed. According to Villar, the establishment of the Irasan Center and the fish port is an effort to preserve the heritage of Las Piñas. “Sen. Manny Villar and I strongly believe that being deeply rooted in our own history is a key element to progress,” said Mrs. Villar. Another project of Villar is the revival of the parol-making industry in Las Piñas. It was first started in Las Piñas by Arsenio Aguilar in 1949 and who, at age 84 today, helps the magpaparols who incidentally belong to the third generation parol makers, put together lanterns of various designs, shapes and colors in a barangay center. Villar recounted in her book how she was able to initiate handloom weaving in Las Piñas as an added livelihood for the women in the city. She said “during my house-to-house campaign when I first ran for the congressional seat, I saw a group of women seated in a circle. From afar, I thought that they were just whiling away their time; but, as I approached them, I realized that they were actually working with their hands. They were making rags of basahan with leftover cloth strips.” “One of my top advocacies is to promote the empowerment of women; women make up more than 50 percent of our city’s population in Las Piñas. From what I saw, I thought I should find a livelihood for them that would provide income for their families and also be a source of pride for them and for our city... until an idea about locally made hand-woven blankets struck me,” Rep. Villar added. With seven looms and one warping board, the first Las Piñas Handloom Weaving Center was inaugurated on Dec. 13, 2005 at the Bernabe Compound in Brgy. Pulang Lupa 1. Meanwhile, crafting solutions to save the two major rivers systems of Las Piñas turned out to be creating another livelihood opportunity for the townsfolk. Besides the garbage in the Las Piñas and Zapote rivers, the overabundance of water hyacinths clogged the river flow from quickly going to the sea. Seeing the plant as a resource, and not as a hardy pest, Rep. Villar, with the help of her constituents, conceived of water hyacinth basket weaving as another livelihood program of Las Piñas. Over a period of three years, they were able to train over 100 persons in the craft, and have expanded their product lines into mats, trays, slippers, and decorative items. Explaining about the title of the book that she wrote, Rep. Villar said, “The title of the book suggests arts and crafts; however, it is not a step-by-step manual on how to do the craft, rather, it is my journey in developing the arts and crafts industry of the city I love and serve... bearing in mind my constituents who manually make the products.” “The book is about my voyage back in time to revive the traditions which used to sustain generations of Las Piñeros. It is also an environmental trip down our beloved Las Piñas and Zapote Rivers, where, in cleaning the waterways, we came up with novel solutions of turning garbage into gold,” Rep. Villar added. Rep. Villar dedicated her book to her husband, Sen. Villar, who has always provided the vision in all their projects, and to her children, Paolo, Mark, and Camille. Among the personalities present who graced the launching are Sen. Villar, former Mayor Imelda Aguilar, Msgr. Albert Venus, and other government officials. The books were distributed generously to Las Piñas local elected officials, city hall department heads, public and private schools, public libraries, Las Piñas exporters and manufacturers and other organizations.