The Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI) inaugurated the Philippine Handloom Weaving Center (PHWC) in the DOST compound in Bicutan early this week. The event was attended by numerous government officials, including DOST Secretary Dr. Renato U. Solidum, Jr., Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano, and Senator Loren Legarda, who gave the keynote speech.

“The reason why we are all here in this hall today is because of our shared advocacy for tropical fabrics,” Senator Legarda said in her keynote speech. “We are not only breathing life into our weaving industry, we also continue to provide a lifeline to our weavers and our farmers.”

PTRI Director Julius L. Leaño Jr. outlined the Institute’s Fostering the Revitalization of Nascent Textile Innovation Ecosystems in the Region (FRONTIER) program. “We are in 100 percent of the 17 regions in the Philippines and 60 percent of the provinces in the last eight years,” he said in his speech.

Natural Textile Fiber Engagement Hubs. “We make sure that our natural resources are properly valorized and used for the textile industry,” Dir. Leaño said, adding that this year, hubs are set to be set up in Catanduanes, Laguna, and Leyte. The hubs have been perfecting technologies to turn plentiful local plants such as water hyacinth and saluyot into fiber, with the creation of bamboo fiber perfected during the pandemic. Two new Bamboo Textile Fiber Hubs were just established in Pangasinan and Agusan del Norte just last month.

Regional yarn production and innovation centers. “Now, if we have all of these fibers, what do we do next? We have to make them into yarn.” Two centers in Iloilo and Isabela have been put up through the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Grants-in-Aid Program, with a third one in North Cotabato nearing completion. A fourth one in Ilocos Norte is set to be launched this year as well.

Natural Dye Hubs. “We have yarns. What’s next? We have an array of natural dyes that we have also mainstreamed and started using. [They] have also been the subject of the various natural dye hubs across the Philippines. We have located them strategically to complement the weaving activities that we have on the ground.”

Philippine silk. “We also have silk in the Philippines because of our Seda Pilipinas program. The Seda Pilipinas program is part of the Silk Corridor that stretches from Kalinga to Bukidnon.” Facilities dedicated to silk have been set up in Kalinga, in the Bicutan compound, Negros Oriental, and Misamis Oriental, with new ones being established in Laguna and Benguet.

Regional Handloom Weaving Hubs. “With seda and all of these fibers and natural dyes, now comes the assembling of the fibers. This is where our handloom weaving activities come in.” The hubs are scattered strategically across the Philippines and are representative of the different weaving activities happening there. “Because of mobilization, we asked ourselves, ‘How do we handle and integrate all of these regional activities in Manila?’ Thus, the Philippine Handloom Weaving Center, which we are launching today.”

Philippine Handloom Weaving Center has seven functions, which include weaving, training, and technical support; weave design innovation and product development; quality assessment standards development; weaving machine engineering; and organizing the Philippine Handloom Weaving Festival that will be held for the first time as part of the National Science and Technology Innovation Week celebration in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, toward the end of November. “What you’ll see will just be a simple, small facility, but its function and expectation are way beyond the number of square meters allotted to it for now,” Dir. Leaño concluded.

In her keynote speech, Sen. Legarda emphasized the need to look at the industry as a whole, and to see it as a dignified and potentially robust livelihood source, as well as reminders of our country’s many living traditions.

“The Philippine Handloom Weaving Center is one of your many efforts to address the challenges faced by our weavers, providing our weaving communities with the weaving technology, the designs, and the skills they need. There needs to be convergence among agencies… across sectors to strengthen our communities and local industries, starting with the harvesting, the production of our raw materials, to the processing… and to maximize the output. The creation of fibers for the creation of textiles,” she said. “Why am I passionate about this? Because this is all about livelihood.”

All too often, people see local textiles and go, “How fashionable!” The people in the industry hope that one day, all Filipinos understand that behind every local cloth and fiber are the crops farmers harvested, the looms weavers used, and the industry and culture of the many communities that produced them, some designs literally from their dreams.