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52 crafts · 10 peoples

Living Crafts
of the Bangsamoro

What the region weaves, casts and carves: where each piece is made, who still makes it, and where a visitor can watch it made or buy it from the hands that made it.

The cover of Pusaka: inaul, okir, a kris hilt, tepo weaving and the Grand Mosque of Cotabato City

From the Bangsamoro Commission for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage

Pusaka

Embodying Prestige of the BARMM’s Cultural Properties

The commission’s own coffee-table book of the region’s heritage, province by province: 78 cultural items, from the inaul and the brassware of Maguindanao to the okir and torogan of Lanao, Yakan tennun, and the tepo mats and boats of Tawi-Tawi.

cultural items
78 cultural items
provinces
5 provinces
pages
118 pages
Read the book PDF, 17 MBOn the commission’s site

Posted by the commission in February 2025, it still includes Sulu, which the Supreme Court ruled out of BARMM in 2024. For children, the commission also publishes Landung, a colouring book of the same heritage.

Textiles

Dress

Mats

Basketry

Brass

Pottery

Instruments

Carving

Ornaments

Blades

Boats

When to go

The festivals where these crafts are shown, worn and sold.

  • February

    Inaul Festival

    Buluan, Maguindanao del Sur

    Started in 2017 to promote inaul; features the Kapaginaul weaving competition, inaul gowns, a search for the oldest inaul and a trade expo. Reporting found covers 2017–2019.

    Source

  • June

    Lami-Lamihan Festival

    Lamitan City, Basilan

    Opens on June 26 at the Datu Kalun Shrine; a celebration of Yakan culture with a parade in hand-woven Yakan attire. 2025 was its 42nd year.

    Source

  • December

    Shariff Kabunsuan Festival

    Cotabato City

    Mid-December; highlight is the Guinakit fluvial parade on December 19 along the Rio Grande de Mindanao, with ornately adorned boats once used by royal families.

    Source

  • August

    Langkit Festival

    Marawi City, Lanao del Sur

    Week-long city charter celebration named after the langkit, with barangay booths, kulintang playing and a langkit competition.

    Source

  • April

    Okir Art Exhibit

    Cagayan de Oro (outside BARMM)

    BARMM trade ministry exhibit of Maranao baul, tapestries, paintings and okir jewellery; held in April 2024.

    Source

  • October

    National Arts and Crafts Fair

    SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City (outside BARMM)

    National crafts fair where a pandan mat weaver from Mapun, Tawi-Tawi, wove at her booth in 2025.

    Source

Every fact here is linked to the page it came from. Photos are from Wikimedia Commons under free licences, or from the commission’s book Pusaka, which its site places in the public domain; each is credited on the photo. Items cited to Pusaka come from the book, by page.

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Crafts of the Bangsamoro·Textiles

Maguindanaon · Maguindanao del Sur

Inaul

inaul (Maguindanaon)

Inaul is the handwoven cloth of the Maguindanaon; the word itself means "woven", and the cloth is mostly sold and worn as a malong. Its patterns are passed down in families, some are inspired by stories, objects or emotions, and some designs were once reserved for royal houses.

₱2,500–₱5,000 for an inaul malong, depending on the cloth and design as of February 2018

Made in
Buluan, Datu Piang, Sultan Kudarat, Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao del Sur
Materials
Cotton (tanor), rayon and shiny katiyado thread; much of the silk thread is sourced from China
Worn or used
Worn as the malong and also made into tubaw headcloths, shawls, headscarves, bags and gowns.
Inaul fabric on display in the old Cotabato City HallMarkoDalisay · CC BY-SA 4.0Photo by MarkoDalisay, CC BY-SA 4.0. Open the source file.
Inaul fabric on display in the old Cotabato City Hall

More like it

Malong a landapMaranao · Lanao del Sur

How it is made

Women weave inaul on a hand loom (earlier weavers used backstrap looms); a length takes from 2 days to about 6 days for harder patterns. For the binaludan pattern the weaver dyes the threads, wraps them in banana leaves and dries them in the sun, a resist-dye method similar to ikat.

Motifs

  • binaludto, rainbow
  • makabimban, stripes
  • panigabi, taro
  • binaludan, wave-like; among the hardest and most expensive patterns
  • lombayan, sadness
  • karanda, named after a sultan's precious metal case, from a story of a weaving contest among his wives

Makers

  • Normina Collie

    Master weaver who began weaving at 12; described in 2018 as a 7th-generation weaver teaching some 300 weavers in the province.

    Source

  • Noraina "Jho" Abbas Ansing

    Master weaver from Barangay Katidtuan, Sultan Kudarat, believed to be the birthplace of inaul; won the malong weaving contest at the Inaul Festival and trains young women.

    Source

  • Bia Abdullah and Norhaya Gulang

    Aunt and niece weavers from Datu Piang who competed in the Kapaginaul weaving competition.

    Source

  • Women Center weaving section, Buluan

    Provincial weaving centre where many weavers are wives of former Moro rebels; reported in 2018.

    Source

Where to see it

  • Inaul Festival

    Buluan, Maguindanao del Sur

    February; weaving competition, inaul gown exhibit and trade expo.

    Source

  • Women Center

    Buluan, Maguindanao del Sur

    In 2018 the one inaul weaving centre was in Buluan, though most women wove at home.

    Source

  • Old Cotabato City Hall exhibit

    Cotabato City

    An inaul fabric is shown in the museum exhibit inside the old city hall (as photographed on Wikimedia Commons).

    Source

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