By Mike Baños (as related by Salika Maguindanao-Samad)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – In the wake of the infamous Marawi Siege of 2017 which displaced thousands from this Islamic City of Mindanao, real-life couple Salika and Jardin Samad gathered together their fellow Meranaws under the banner of Maranao Collectibles.
At an evacuation center in Iligan City, it dawned upon them that the art of langkit weaving has long been suffering and slowly dying primarily because of the neglected cultural valuation of weaved products in the country. The neglect contributes to the slow production rates, high-priced products, and low income opportunities which bring financial instability to Meranaw weavers. Driven to revive this dying tradition, they humbly started their social enterprise by building makeshift equipment made of bamboo pipes and scraps and teaching the evacuees the art of langkit weaving. (British Council Philippines, 2017)
Retracing their humble beginnings, Salika shared their journey to become one of the most respected voices in the preservation of their history, culture and identity as a people during the recent Okir Exhibit II held at a local mall in a talk dubbed “Threads of Hope: How Meranaw Women Weave Peace for Marawi’s Future.”
“If you look at the traditional Malong Landap of the Meranaw people, your eyes are immediately drawn to the Langkit—those vibrant, intricate hand-woven strips that join the panels together,” Salika said. “To the untrained eye, it is a beautiful decoration. But to the community, it is a map of our history. Across the Lake Lanao region, the Meranaw woman has served as the living loom of our civilization.”
Langkit in Meranaw History & Heritage
As an advocate for the preservation of the vanishing art and culture of Meranaw weaving, Maranao Collectibles endeavors to pass it on to the younger Meranaw generations by helping them appreciate and value its tradition.
Salika learned the intricacies of Meranaw weaving from her mother Saadira Shiek Basmala, who has been nominated by the Bangsamoro Commission for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (BCPCH)-Lanao del Sur for the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) or National Living Treasures Award, which recognizes and supports traditional folk artists. Administered by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), it honors masters in crafts like weaving, poetry, and performing arts who preserve indigenous heritage.
As a Cultural Bearer, she stressed how the Meranaw Weaver serves as the vital bridge and guardian of their cultural soul, at the same time demonstrating their economic resilience.
“Being a Cultural Bearer means carrying the weight of identity so it doesn’t blow away in the winds of globalization. For the Meranaw woman, this weight is carried in the mastery of Okir. She is not just a performer of the past; she is the architect of our future.”
“In Lanao, women weavers are the primary teachers of (the Okir icons) pako rabong (the growing fern) and the naga (sea serpent). These aren’t just shapes; they are a visual language of growth, power, and grace.”
Although some of the older Meranaw women still practice traditional weaving, they are few and far between since the demand and market for their products were slowly shrinking and vanishing. On the other hand, the younger Meranaws prefer to work somewhere else where prestige and pay were far better.
Intangible Artistry
Salika stresses how Meranaw weavers create their masterworks of langkit and landap without the benefit of manuals, templates and other usual tools to help them hone their craft.
“Weaving a langkit is a mathematical feat. Without written manuals, these artisans memorize complex sequences of thread. When a mother teaches her daughter to weave, she is saving a world from extinction. The malong is present at birth, at weddings, and at the end of life. By maintaining the standards of this craft, women ensure that every Meranaw, whether in Marawi or abroad, knows exactly who they are.”
As noted by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), these traditional practices provide the social cohesion necessary for a community to thrive. The cultural preservation is not a “hobby.” In Lanao, it is a sophisticated economic driver, she added.
Artisanal Entrepreneurship
When a Meranaw woman masters the langkit, she enters the Creative Economy. A hand-woven Malong Landap is a luxury item, a piece of “slow fashion” that attracts global interest.
Salika has been recognized with the Outstanding Entrepreneur Award for her entrepreneurship, and Maranao Collectibles with the Excellence in Advocacy Award for its’ advocacy of indigenous crafts, by the National Customers’ Choice Annual Awards which honors top-performing companies, products, brands, and service providers across various categories. The awards are based on customer feedback, reflecting opinions, perceptions, awareness, and expectations related to their daily choices.
This role reached a pinnacle during the Marawi Siege and its aftermath when shops closed, homes and livelihoods lost, women used their backstrap looms to weave a way forward.
Statistics show that when a woman earns an income from her craft, she reinvests nearly all of it back into her family. Her “traditional” work pays for “modern” progress—books for school, medicine for the elderly, and food for the table.
According to reports on Post-Marawi Recovery, weaving became a lifeline, providing immediate income when other industries failed.
However, the role of a cultural bearer is increasingly difficult. They face the pressures of cheap, machine-made imitations and a lack of raw materials.
Salika said that when Maranao Collectible opened, they decided to increase the price point of their langkit pieces.
“Many weavers have stopped before because they know that it brings too little money. We have to address that because this will discourage the weavers. We leave it to the buyers if they still want to order. We explain to them that these are handicrafts and not mass-produced,” she said.
They are now able to produce 200 to 500 meters of fabric in a month, and have clientele from many parts of the country. They have also forged partnerships with distributors. (Ellao, 2020)
A Meranaw woman cultural bearer is the heartbeat of her community. Like the langkit itself, she is the “joining strip” that holds the different panels of our society together. She holds the thread of the past in one hand and the currency of the future in the other. Let us look at these weavers not just as figures of history, but as the entrepreneurs of heritage who keep our spirits—and our economies—alive.
The Jardin Hybrid Loom, invented by Jardin Samad was hailed as the Grand Winner in the Grassroots Innovation (GI) category at the 2023 Grassroots Innovation and Circular Economy (GiCE) Expo held July 21, 2023 at the Heritage Hotel Manila, Pasay City. It is a sleek, sophisticated, and portable backstrap loom that features elevated seating, reducing strain on the weaver’s legs and allowing for better, more comfortable, and more efficient production, specifically designed to address the physical pain and discomfort experienced by traditional langkit weavers who typically work on the floor. It supports the preservation of traditional langkit (Malong weaving) while improving the working conditions and productivity of local weavers. Supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through the Bangon Marawi Support Fund, the innovation bested 14 other contenders in the 2023 GICE Expo, which highlights innovative, sustainable, and community-based solutions.
Langkit Festival is celebrated every year with the Charter Day of Marawi City, a legacy started by Mayor Majul U. Gandamra to help revive and sustain the tradition.
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