Samar town weavers aim for record with 2-km ‘banig’
By Vicente Labro
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 01:22:00 08/28/2008
Filed Under: Regional authorities
TACLOBAN CITY – At least 100 weavers are putting together a project that officials of Basey, Samar hope could go the distance in bringing fame, and tourism income, to their town – a 2-kilometer long “banig” or sleeping mat.
The weavers are using “tikog,” an indigenous reed, to build the mat and, according to officials, aim for an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.
If built, officials said they hoped the mat could help promote the town’s banig industry.
“Whether it is for the Guinness (Book of World) Records or not, we are pushing through (with the project),” said Basey Mayor Wilfredo Estorninos.
Aside from its mat weaving industry, Basey is also famous for its nature destinations, such as the 840-hectare Sohoton Natural Bridge National Park, the Rawis Cave and the Balantak Mountain Resort, which are frequented by local and foreign tourists.
Estorninos said the municipal government has allocated P200,000 for the longest banig project.
The “longest banig” would be on display at a parade on Sept. 28, the eve of the town fiesta on Sept. 29.
He said in 1997 weavers built a 1.9-kilometer mat and that feat would be replicated, if not surpassed, this time.
The weavers, he said, started work in July and have finished about a kilometer of the mat.
Mat weaving was already a cottage industry in Basey in the early 1900s.
In recent years, enterprising Basey mat weavers found many other uses for the banig such as throw pillow covers, wall decors, lamp shades, slippers and place mats.
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