BALIUAG, Bulacan—A giant hat measuring two meters in diameter will highlight the opening of the annual Buntal Hat Festival here today (Wednesday) in an attempt to reinvigorate the century-old vanishing art of weaving buri palm leaves.
As this developed, local manufacturers of buntal hats said that since the industry started in 1907, demand for the product here and abroad remain high.
They said they cannot meet the volume requirement abroad due to shortage of weavers, but they are now counting on inmates at the provincial jail in Malolos City to weave and produce additional hats.
“We will have the first giant buntal hat to be showcased in the annual festival,” said Rosie Decasa, municipal tourism officer of this town.
The giant buntal hat has a diameter of two meters and 50 inches in height. At least 10 people can share its shade.
According to Decasa, the giant hat is equivalent to 1,000 regular sized buntal hat and materials used alone amounted to P50,000.
“We are hoping that this will rejuvenate the vanishing art of weaving here,” Decasa said referring to the industry of weaving buri palms that started in this town in 1907.
She noted that in the past, weaving buri palm into buntal hat was a cottage industry here and in nearby towns where almost every household had weavers.
However, the labor-intensive weaving industry is now dying due to shortage of skilled weavers.
“Time has changed along with the priorities of people. Many moved to the cities for easier high-paying jobs, and that left us with older workers,” Decasa said, noting there are still some 500 weavers but their ages ranged from 35 to 60 years.
She said that the dearth in skilled weavers is the biggest threat to the industry and possibilities of supplying demands abroad.
As the proprietor of Baliuag Buntal Hat Enterprises, Decasa said they had to turn down new requests for buntal hats because they could not meet the demand of their regular custoemrs.
“If we have more workers, we can meet the demands here and abroad,” she said noting that a weaver can produce a buntal hat in two or three days.
With the dearth in skilled workers, she said they are now counting on the hats produced by 30 inmates of the Bulacan Provincial Jail where they initiated a training program last year.
She also called on local government unites and the Department of Education (DepEd) to assist them in popularizing the art of weaving buntal hat again not only to increase their number of weavers but to preserve the vanishing art of weaving.
Earlier, local historians cited that buntal hat weaving along with singkaban-making, puni art, pastillas wrapper-making and preserved fruit carvings are some of the indigenous arts that originated in Bulacan.
However, the said indigenous arts are facing extinction due to lack of skilled workers and artists.
The dearth in number of young local artists and workers can be traced to the lack of priorities and advocacy of local government units to preserve the said vanishing arts.
