AFTER PRAYING, Alicasim Pacalina softly pounded his panasang (chisel), carefully tracing a twirling pattern that explodes into an intricate design showing the uniquely Maranao okir.

He was doing the final touches on the top cover of the baor (treasure chest), adorned with Mother of Pearl locally called tipay.

Palicana can sell the chest for as much as P30,000. The last piece he had sold to a neighbor was worth P50,000.

Making baor is a tradition to the Pacalinas, who live in Barangay Ingud Poblacion in the town of Tugaya, Lanao de Sur. Alicasim started making wooden chests when he was about 15 years old, following in the footsteps of his craftsman-father.

?My father did not teach me, but I learned a lot from him. There was no formal training or education. It just came out from me. My father was so dedicated and his passion was so intense. I saw how he put himself to what he was doing and that influenced me a lot,? Pacalina said.

Ancient enterprise

Ingud Poblacion is known for its goldsmiths, but some residents like Pacalina are into wood carving. Their products are often seen in department stores in Davao City and Metro Manila. The baor are also seen, along with other Maranao crafts, inside the torongan or Maranao royal houses.

For the Maranao people of Tugaya, baor-making is as ancient as their history of economic enterprise. The treasure chests were used by the people to barter their products with those of others in the villages surrounding Lake Lanao.

Historical accounts indicate that in the 1960s, US Peace Corps volunteers brought the Tugaya baor to the United States.

A documentation initiated by the local government on the cultural properties of the Maranao settlement of Tugaya says that tourists? demand for the baor rose because of its unique features. Even chests as old as 200 years?passed as family heirlooms?were sold.

Because of the demand coupled with the economic hardship of the owners, old baor were sold to tourists and this nearly led to their extinction. Baor-making was revived in the 1960s and started to flourish in Tugaya alongside the brassware industry, the document said.

Brass stamping

Sulayman Kassan, 65, who lives in the nearby Barangay Dilimbayan, is popular for his brass stamping craft. He follows the traditional method of using embossed okir design hammered onto metal sheets.

Kassan is also an expert in making the agong, a musical instrument that completes the 13-piece kulintang ensemble.

His brothers, Amir Tahir and Taja Tahir, of Barangay Raya are into brass making, too. Taja?s 16-year old son makes Maranao bladed weapons.

?Our father was known for his kris and kampilan which are inlaid with gold. The weapons that he made were known as one of the best,? said Taja, who is also a policeman.

The Raja community is known for its kampilan, a one-side blade, single-edge straight sword used by a baiksa (warrior); sondang, a double wavy-edged dagger bearing similar features to that of the Malaysian wavy sword and used as a royal symbol; gorok, a 6 to 9-inch dagger used by a sultan; and the pudang, a single-edge sword patterned after the crescent sun.

The art and crafts of Tugaya, according to Mipanga Maongco, a former Islamic Studies professor at the King Faisal Center of Mindanao State University, have been passed from one generation to another.

?Where did this come from? This is a treasure passed on to us by the previous generations?honed by time, polished by experience. The arts and crafts that you see around here and the ones that you see in other parts of the country and around the world, speak of what we are as a people. They are our identity,? said Maongco.

Over the years, he said, the people of Tugaya had shown their ingenious crafts and unique creativity. And as 32-year-old wood artist Akmad Acop Bazar would say it: ?You are not a resident of Tugaya if you are not an artist.?

Artistic women, too

If the men?s preoccupation is metal and wood, the women of Tugaya are not without their own creative window. In Barangay Tangkal, the mother-daughter tandem of Rahima Saadudin, 54, and Nadia Mala, 37, is known for weaving the langkit and landap.

They are part of a group of women engaged in making different kinds of handicrafts, such as weaving the traditional cloth wrap malong, langkit and landap (sashes to enhance a malong), beadwork on mamayindang ampas (colorful large round cloth used during special ceremonies), and the payong a diakatan (umbrellas).

As in brass and woodcraft, the Tugaya women?s art of weaving has been passed through generations. The intricate designs reflect the owners? belief and social status.

Mala started to weave when she was only in Grade 5, learning the craft from her mother.

?Our crafts may appear like they are expensive but the price is fair enough for what we put into it. Our craft is our life and our main livelihood,? Taja Tahir said.

Aware of the competitive edge of the Tugaya products, the Local Government Support Program in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (LGSPA), through the Local Economic Development (LED) Project, has worked with the artisans since 2006.

Cris Tagupa, a project officer of LSGPA, said the products could generate more jobs and income for the people.

The Tugaya local government has tapped Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology for help in the design and construction of a kiln drying and metal foundry so that it can improve the quality of its products.

In December 2007, a group of artisans joined a series of study tours in Luzon to learn from people with similar sources of livelihood. In Baguio City, they saw how the locals and private organizations worked together, with very minimal assistance from the government.

Tugaya Mayor Alimatar Guroalim, who accompanied the artisans, learned that a local government could provide the environment for local economic development through legislation. He, too, learned that Baguio?s economy was secured by the City Investment Incentive Code and that its business growth was being fueled by revenue shares from its 13,000 commercial establishments.

The artisans also visited a wood-based production business in the City of San Fernando in Pampanga and saw the potential of bamboo for woodcraft.