BANAUE, Ifugao – A strong scent of drying timber wafts on the air. Wood, of all sizes, shapes and lengths, leaning or stacked, flat or bowed, curled or gnarled, straight or crooked, planed or stripped, dried or half-dried, are everywhere.
While wood chips lay on the earthen floor soon to be gathered later and used as kindle for firewood in the process of cooking.
Workers, some barefoot, others in rubber slippers sit on stools and benches inside the workshop, the work area shuttered by galvanized sheets on three sides with the remaining fourth side yawning open, while the roof was covered with cogon grass as roofing.
Around the workshop stood unfinished woodcarving products, while the finished ones waited to be polished into fine woodcraft.
It was still early morning as the group of woodcarvers sipped coffee while others busied themselves preparing wads of “moma” to chew, or betel chewing as we know it.
They are the “mumpaot,” masters in the art of woodcarving, who, after helping their women folks plant rice seedlings in the paddy fields in Ifugao, go back to what they love most and immerse themselves to carving wood of all shapes and sizes.
In every nook and cranny of this province with a population of 207,498 (2020 census), one can find small woodcarving workshops with one or more mumpaot busily tending to work, their demeanor of talk often laced with the legendary and well-known Ifugao humor heard and passed on among other Cordillera tribe folks.
Within the bounds of the craft are, for many years, mumpaots from the province who passed a sufficient period of apprenticeship to craftsmanship and design to reach a measure of success in such artistic handiwork.
Many tribes in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) who do not hail from Ifugao, readily hold this gumption “that woodcarving is in the blood, naturally, of the Ifugao folks,” as stated by Dabus Kadpan, from Mountain Province, a compliment justifying itself, in like manner the words “moma” or “nganga” are truly Ifugao origin.
Every woodcarving has a story and a woodcarver embeds an imprint of part of his life in the craft made, an inseparable element of language formed in his mind to create such handiwork.
Woodcarving literally tell stories. For an Ifugao woodcarver to carve the humblest but real thing – like a toy for a child – is a literal demonstration of the adventurous curiosity of the woodcarver when he, himself, was once an innocent lad.
Many have witnessed how the Ifugao mumpaot, when separated by too wide a gulf from fresh thought – that is, from design and on the other hand, the ornamentation – yet quickly falls into a blend of handiwork that when finished, is delightful to behold, by outsider onlookers.
And sometimes, their woodcarving products elicit bubbles of laughter. Just remember the woodcarving that hit the streets a long time ago of a man crouched inside a barrel. Remove the barrel and the genitalia of the man comes springing out to the shrieks of ladies.
How the mumpaot wields an art which dwells on the mysterious combination of tribute of a bright and inspiration of culture-laden mind and keeping himself free from affectations surrounding him in his endeavor is quite amazing even as he grins through red-stained teethe and lips as a result of regular moma-chewing.
One among the ancient woodcarving artifacts of Ifugao that have cultural and religious connotations and continue to weather the times are the “bulul” figurines, the mythological deities of good harvest and protectors of fields and granaries.
In a jigsaw puzzle of forgotten past, historians have yet to pin down exactly how the bulbul figurines, often carved in pairs of male and female, sometimes neuter figurines, appeared in every village in Ifugao.
As to when the male and female bulul figures – passed down from generations – were actually carved, historians seem to face foggy mirrors explaining about origins of these Ifugao woodcarving deities.
There’s this study titled “Critical Realist Ethnology of Filipino Woodcarving Artisans of Ifugao and Paete,” conducted by Wendel Glen Cagape which noted, among others, that woodcarving Ifugao predated the coming of the Spaniards, “and has parallel origins with the world-famous Ifugao rice terraces.”
“It is because rice planting in the Cordilleras are also associated with folk practices of worshiping bulul of the rice gods and so does the planting of rice and harvesting the produce of the rice terraces,” Cagape says, Unfortunately, Cagape, has failed to track in his study how the first wooden gods were carved.
There is a humor going the rounds among Cordillera tribal folks that, probably, the Ifugao people possess more imagination that has propelled them to become master woodcarvers and considering the fact that more than 2,000 years ago, without use of surveying instruments and hardly any metal tools, were able to construct their famous rice terraces and its complex irrigation system running from valleys almost to mountain tops.
Woodcarving in Ifugao is traditionally done by males. However, in 2018 a group of Ifugao women threw down the gauntlet and took on the male mumpaots in a challenge seen as refashioning the male-dominated industry.
Called the Banaue Women Sculptors Organization and composed of 18 enterprising women informally grouped way back in 2016, they learned to carve during their teens, momentarily forgot about it when they got married, then came back for the chisel because of financial debacles. Some of the women learned the art from their spouses.
These female mumpaot are capable of producing miniature woodcarvings to sell and help defray domicile expense.
Apparently, the woodcarving business, like any other business, has also felt the economic pinch and the industry is in doldrums. Woodcarving tied very much to the tourism industry, income gains from woodcarving can only be realized with influx of visitors, both domestic and international.
Challenges facing the woodcarving industry that also affects income of woodcarvers range from source of wood, log ban, quality of wood used for woodcarving, lack of government support, lack of interest of the younger generation to enter into woodcarving, low export of products and copycat, among others.
Such a situation has forced many woodcarvers to turn to other jobs or economic endeavors, such as becoming drivers, aggregate haulers or machine shop operators.
In Benguet, there are mumpaots who have become artisans, trying their luck on small-scale gold mining prospects. Some have actually made good; others press on, searching for that elusive yellow at the end of the rainbow.
Johnny Mondiguing, punong barangay of Camp 7, Baguio City, who hails from Ifugao and whose family was known for having engaged in the lucrative woodcarving business for many years past, explained: “Our woodcarvers are very much affected by the ongoing state of the economy.”
“Since woodcarvings are being catered to local tourists, the less tourists in our city, the lesser is the income of woodcarvers,” Mondiguing further said.
Still, woodcarving holds bright prospects ahead, Mondiguing saying, “The potential for export is always there, especially for handmade wooden products and artistically made woodcarvings. The problem is with our woodcarvers. Very few come up with original and cultural-based carvings.”
Apparently, Mondiguing was pointing out how the woodcarving industry – like some business ventures – is invaded by the constant copycat behavior, stating, “When one artist comes up with an original idea, everyone copies the product.”
“The flood of readily available product, results in a cheaper price and less interest for art connoisseurs. The product’s uniqueness is taken away by the copycats who cannot come up with their own original creations, “Mondiguing ruefully says.
Mondiguing revealed about the experience of a Baguio-based mumpaot from Asin Road, who fell prey to the problem of his art being victim to imitation. The artist was an expert in bamboo root woodcarving.
“He was able to sell his products for more than Php 15,000 apiece. But when neighbors started to copy his works, the value and interest in bamboo root woodcarvings suddenly plunged. Now, they do not do bamboo root woodcarvings because the time and effort in making one is not economically rewarding, “Mondiguing explains.
Baguio-based mumpaots are also forced to recalculate their options whether engaging in woodcarving will still be worthwhile considering demarcations. “One of the main problems of woodcarving in the city is wood shortage and restrictions of transporting wood from other provinces, “Mondiguing says.
“Woodcarvers with shops in the city often go to provinces like La Union to as far as Isabela and Rizal. These woodcarvers would carve the wood at the source and transport them to Baguio for finishing touches such as waxing or varnish, since it is less likely that they will be charged for illegal logging or illegal transport of wood, if they transport the wood this way rather than in log form,” Mondiguing clarifies.
But one thing remains. Despite problems they encounter ahead, many mumpaots will carve through thick and thin their artistic expression that traces its origins to their indigenous culture.
