The art and the patience of weaving from indigenous material is slowly disappearing. The masters are fading into old age and one can only hope that their next generation offsprings will continue their craft. They are treasures we want to keep and skills we hope will be with us forever. Here is a story of one such national treasure.

Estelita Bantilan, 85 years old, is one of the Philippine’s treasured national artists. She is a B’laan master banig (mat) weaver from Upper Lasang, Sapo Masla, Malapatan, Sarangani Province. She has been making banig since she was 10 years old. She learned how to weave banigs from her mother, who also learned the skill from her own mother.

Nanay Estelita uses indigenous materials found around the area where she lives in making banig. Buli, the main material used for weaving, is harvested from the many buli plants scattered around her house. The dyes used for coloring are from plant and rock pigments, which are harvested by her husband from the nearby forest.

Weaving one Banig used to take one month to complete because working on it can only be done during early morning and very late in the afternoon, when it is not hot. Heat, Nanay Estelita explained, makes the buli impliable. Upper Lasang didn’t have electricity until last year, so Nanay Estelita could not work at night. Now that they have electricity, she is able to weave at night and production time got down to two weeks.

Even though she is already 85 years old, Nanay Estelita is still very active. She works on her garden when not weaving. When asked what’s her secret for long life, with a big bright smile, she said “happiness.”