By Loreta C. Rafisura, first of two parts

The quaint town of Salay is in the province of Misamis Oriental, in green Mindanao of the Philippines. It is a fourth class municipality. So very typical of most rural towns, Salay is quiet and the people live simply, engaging in traditional agriculture and fishing.

In 1987, however, clashes between the New People's Army (NPA) rebels and government soldiers displaced the mountain people who depended mainly on their small farm lots for subsistence. The people had to move down to the Poblacion, where they had no adequate food and other necessities.

In the midst of this condition, civic-minded individuals heeded the national government's call for the people to organize the People's Economic Council (PEC) so they could help themselves. Thus, PEC-Salay was born and came to the family of Dr. Reynaldo and Loreta Rafisura.

Loreta was then recuperating from mastectomy. Dr. Rafisura was serving as the Municipal Health Officer. Being natives of Salay, the couple felt their hearts "wrenched" when they saw some of their town mates begging for food. This tragedy had never occurred before. Food was always available, at the very least in the form of backyard root crops and vegetables. But in 1987, even these were lost when the people left their farms and livelihood to evade the fighting.

Providence must have guided Dr. Rafisura one night when he saw an exhibit of livelihood projects. He was on his way home from a medical seminar in the nearby city of Cagayan de Oro. The exhibits, which included instructional film shows, were presented in the municipality of Villanueva by the Design Mobile of the Product Development and Design Center of the Philippines (PDDCP). One of the movies was about the process of making handmade paper using cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica exaltata).

Dr. Rafisura was convinced that handmade papermaking was the answer to PEC's search for a livelihood project, one that could solve the unemployment problem of Salay. In Salay, grass was (and still is) more abundant than anything else! "Cogon is a pest," Dr. Rafisura said, "but if it could be made into something beautiful, something that could help our people, then we have to exploit its potential."

A month later, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) sponsored a three-day workshop on handmade papermaking in Salay. The trainer was Ms. Elizabeth Tagaylo, a chemist. Fifty-three people attended the course, but they were surprised and dismayed at the result of the workshop: The sheet of handmade paper was coarse like an egg tray. Consequently, only a few participants persevered to finish the training.

Still, 10 people decided to stick together and continued the effort. To sustain the project, all the workers willingly sacrificed by receiving pay that cash flow allowed. A raffle draw was made, resulting in an initial capital of P6,000.

The original handmade paper made in Salay.

It was the DTI, especially Provincial Director Alfonso Alamban and Regional Director Ninfa Along-Albania, who kept the morale of the group always high, enabling the group to meet the daily challenges. Other agencies who became our friends were the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Fiber Industry and Development Authority (FIDA), PDDCP, and other local and even foreign non- government organizations (NGOs).

Breakthrough

Starting with the lowly cogon grass, the group conducted experiments and successfully made original formulas using fiber of abaca (Musa textilis), leaves of pineapple (Ananas comosus), sawdust, bark of salago (Wikstroemia lancelota) and other indigenous materials.

The group then peddled the products and displayed them on consignment basis at stores in Cagayan de Oro and even in Manila. They also joined trade fairs and networked with any agencies willing to help them. Still, it was very difficult to sell handmade paper sheets per se. No one in Mindanao knew about them or appreciated their environmental value.

Hoping to increase sales, the group started converting the handmade paper sheets into artistic handicrafts. This practice began after Loreta, who loves nature, took the weeds and flowers in her garden and pressed them. Afterwards, her sister Carmen Capistrano, a local high school teacher in Salay, decorated a sheet of handmade paper with pressed flowers and leaves. She then added some writings, and turned this combination into a Valentine's card -- the first greeting card of the group. The process was meticulous and time-consuming, but the finished product did look much better than the plain sheet. This procedure of pressing plant parts on handmade paper eventually became the trademark of the group.

After a few months, DTI sent Jon and Eva Honculada to teach basic handicraft techniques.This couple, who composed the first Product Development Team of the group, impressed upon the workers the exacting rules of making straight lines and perfect angles. The couple also emphasized neatness and quality control in the creation of boxes, frames and novelty items. | Please proceed to page 2 |