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Manila Bulletin devider Lifestyle devider Kalinga tattoo artist Grace Palicas calls out Nas Daily: 'Whang-od Academy is a scam'

Kalinga tattoo artist Grace Palicas calls out Nas Daily: 'Whang-od Academy is a scam'

Published Aug 4, 2021 09:41 pm

The said learning course about the 104-year-old tattoo artist is now unavailable on the learning platform

Launched in 2020, Nas Academy is a learning platform created by social media personality Nuseir Yassin, best known as Nas Daily. On June 2021, the platform grew with courses featuring a number of Filipino personalities such as Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray, fashion designer Michael Cinco, food vlogger Erwan Heussaff, and broadcast journalist Jessica Soho.

Whang-Od (Photo from NCCA by Daryl Santos)

Among the latest courses it offered was on 104-year-old Kalinga tattoo artist Whang-od. For P750, people could discover "all her rituals, tools, and methods for making traditional tattoos."

"The Nas Academy team had to travel two whole days to a remote village in the Philippines just to find her and bring this course to you," the website says. "Now, you get a chance to learn from a living legend, preserve her legacy, and pass it on to future generations."

Through social media posts, Grace Palicas warns people about the said online course, even calling it "a scam."

"My grandmother did not sign any contract with Nas Daily to do any academy," she posted. "Some people are taking advantage of our culture. Please help us stop this disrespect to the legacy of Apo Whang-od and the Butbot tribe."

Grace is the grandniece of the Kalinga tattoo master and Dangal Haraya awardee Whang-od. Since the age of 10, the new-generation mambabatok has been learning the craft from the master herself.

"I know you have good intentions of sharing our culture to the next generation," she said in a now deleted post. "However, our village concern is that some people are profiting and our art and culture."

As of the moment, the learning page for Whang-od's craft is no longer available on Nas Academy.

Related Tags

whang-od grace Palicas nas academy Arts and Culture
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