HOW OFTEN can you own something that is a true historical record, that also represents a desire for peace?
At this year’s MaArte Fair which ran from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1 at The Peninsula Manila, a prominently placed booth displayed Products of Peace, an initiative by TBWA Philippines which brought together the projects of two women who are now working together to help women achieve peace in the communities where they live.
Sinagtala Philippines is a non-profit organization focused on supporting impoverished communities affected by conflict. It was founded at the height of the Marawi Crisis of 2017, a conflict in Mindanao between the Philippine armed forces and militant groups sympathetic to the terrorist organization ISIS. The conflict lasted five months and wrecked the city. Sinagtala co-founder Jamela Alindogan, covering the conflict as a correspondent for the Doha-based news channel Al Jazeera, started the organization after meeting a weaver displaced by the conflict.
“I spoke to the Philippine military to give us space, and they were able to give us space right at the capital. So we opened a crisis center for women and children,” she said during a press conference on Aug. 30 at The Pen. Sinagtala provided looms and established weaving facilities to help Maranao women channel their emotional distress through their rich weaving heritage. From the lone weaver, they have since had more than 150 graduates from the center.
During the press conference, a weaver appeared on video to speak about her experience in the center. “Nalilimutan namin iyong mga bomba, putukan. Hindi namin naririnig (We’d forget the bombs, the shootings. We didn’t hear them),” she said. She gave her loom a click. “May sound. Sumasabay sa, iyong sa labas (it makes a sound the same time sound comes from outside),” she said of the loom.
This particular exercise gave birth to the boom-boom pattern, spikes and irregularities in the pattern of the cloth they were weaving reflecting an explosion every time a bomb was dropped as they worked.
“For the record, none of these women knew how to weave before the war,” Ms. Alindogan explained, saying that some of them had been teachers and entrepreneurs before the war. “They were weaving as bombs continued to fall. It was very surreal, because people would come, and they would be surprised that there would be a weaving center at the height of [the] Marawi [conflict].”
The weaving center had to close during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020 because it was used as a rehabilitation center for suspected COVID-19 patients. They then moved to Jolo in Sulu, also a center of conflict in Mindanao. Jolo had long been a hotbed of Muslim separatist groups. There, the women training to be weavers were wives, widows, daughters, and orphans of the militants.
“In war, we can count the number of fighters. But there is no number [recorded] of the female members of their family,” said Ms. Alindogan. “Women often bear the trauma of conflict.”
HARVESTHarvest, launched in 2019, is a sustainable social enterprise that turns discarded military uniforms into high-quality handwoven products. By repurposing old uniforms, Harvest not only addresses environmental issues but also provides economic opportunities for the wives and dependents of soldiers who have served in conflict zones. Harvest is a project of the Bayo Foundation, by Bayo clothing brand founder Anna Lagon.
Ms. Lagon’s company was approached by the military to do something about their large supply of damaged uniforms. Soldiers’ uniforms are replaced yearly or every two years, according to Ms. Lagon. “They cannot just donate them, for security reasons. And if they destroy them, it will give more problems,” said Ms. Lagon at the press conference.
What they do is they break down the uniforms either to be used as off-cuts in clothes, or the threads are reused as raw material to be woven. Colored stripes, for example, represent these former uniforms.
Ms. Lagon is herself a descendant of a soldier through her grandfather. “What we will be creating is something for the families. This will now be symbolic… the reminder of how these uniforms fight for us.” The weavers for this project are the family members of soldiers. In tears during the press conference, Ms. Lagon said, “This time, sila naman (it’s their turn).”
“They’ve always been in the battle, sacrificing their lives for us,” she said. “They don’t have to worry too much, because they will be busy.
“We’re not just making clothes. We’re building lives,” she said.
TWO SIDESThe booth at the MaArte Fair was called Products of Peace (they also sold coffee grown on some of the ex-battlefields in Mindanao). The military presence is still strong in Mindanao, and despite the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a formalized peace has not been achieved between all the separatist groups and the military (no news today about another such conflict is merely breathing room for the next).
The two projects, separately, benefit the people stuck between two sides of the conflict, but now they share space. Ms. Lagon said, “This is actually not a challenge, but an exciting opportunity, to show how we can create and look at the positivity of this… both are suffering. There are different levels of challenges… but you know, we can actually work together.”
“Products of Peace represents not just one side, but both sides. In all angles, if you just look at one vision, of really creating, encouraging peace… I think it will really be a better place for everybody.”
Ms. Alindogan, meanwhile, said that some of their weavers are still married to men on a watchlist kept by the Army. “To be fair to the military, they’ve been our partners since we opened, at the height of the Marawi war,” she said. “We do have a steady partnership with the Philippine Army,” saying that the army provides them with peripheral security, among other forms of assistance. She reiterates however, that within the center, “Kami lang (it’s just us),” and conflict is left at the door.
“We’re all Filipinos. Whatever political spectrum you’re in. A loss of one life is a loss for us all. For me, as a journalist. I do not see opposing sides. I see people I love, who share the same bloodline.”
For more information, follow Sinagtala PH, and HARVEST on Facebook and Instagram, and learn more about Products of Peace at https://www.productsofpeace.ph/. — Joseph L. Garcia
