mabal tabih art alive
Fu Yabing Masalon Dulo (Photo from the NCCA)
It’s a sad day for the Philippine culture and arts scene as we bid farewell to Gawad Manlilikha ng Bayan laureate Fu (
lola)
Marian Pastor Roces through a Facebook post early in the morning of Jan. 26.
Born in a Blaan village in Landan, Polomok, South Cotabato, Fu Yabing started to learn the craft of Blaan traditional
mabal tabih art of ikat weaving the age of 14. To this day, her role in her community and the Philippines held a great value as she was among the two that kept the art alive. As a master weaver and dyer and bearer of an almost forgotten culture, she was honored with the National Living Treasures Award by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).