Friday, March 12, 2010
   
Text Size

Help Baliwag.Net Sponsor Us...

Enjoy the fun and excitement at SM City - Baliwag, Bulacan

HipStationSir Jack Campus Enterprises Solid Rocks Trading.. For Your Aggregate Needs

Nicanor Perlas 2010 Tayong Lahat ay Perlas!

The Online Marketplace... 88DB.com

Visit Video City Baliwag Now

Colt 45 Malt Liquor

Baliwag Polytechnic College (BPC)

Bulacan BamboocraftSee Your Ads Here!

JobsDB Interactive Recruitment Network Filcode Inc. Changing the Way Philippine Webhosting is done! See Your Ads Here!

Advertise Now! ACSAT Baliwag

Family Affair

Informatics

Visit Our Partners

Banner
Banner
Banner

Latest Jobs

erwqeqwe
Category: Computer/IT
Posted: February 25 25, 2010

nurse/company nurse
Category: Health/Medicine
Posted: January 21 21, 2010

Software Quality Assurance Engineers (Junior, Senior and Principal Levels)
Category: Computer/IT
Posted: January 15 15, 2010

Tambayan Polls

Baliuag Buntal Hat Industry

Is there any hope at all of restoring the buntal hat industry to its old fame and glory?

On the centennial anniversary of the first buntal hat woven in Baliuag, Bulacan, the fourth generation descendant of Dolores Maniquis came back to Baliuag after some years of absence. He pickup the torch to bring back the buntal straw hat weaving to its traditional way and added innovative designs and style to compete in the global market. He grew up in the buntal hat environment under the guidance of his aunt Ester E. Villones, his name is Marc R. de Borja, the Chief Executive Officer of Far East Straw Hats Corporation.

This company was organized in January, 2007 and immediately started preparing the new concept and updated the style and design of the straw hat. He went to England to further his knowledge in the art and techniques in straw hat making. During this time, preparations were made to bring the new technology to upgrade the manner of weaving the straw hat. He took necessary steps to insure that the improved straw hats will be able to withstand the competition in the global environment.

Marc is a graduate of De La Salle College in Manila, Philippines and a Certified Public Accountant by profession. His experience in financial management aided him a lot to organize and make managerial decision to make into reality, the concept he devised to improve the straw hat weaving process. With this as his objective he revived the cottage industry of straw hat making with a touch of current trend in fashion.. His design and style is registered with the Intellectual Property Office , formerly the Bureau of Patents and Tradenames. The company logo he adapted shows the silhouette of the straw hat and with strands of the buntal fiber around the map of the Philippines.

After doing all the preparations to launch the straw hat product, in January, 2008 he began to market the finished straw hats here in the Philippines with an exclusive distributorship with Tesoro’s. He will start offering the straw hats in the global market in the summer of 2008 .

For more information about this company, log-in at www.feshc.com .

HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF THE BUNTAL HAT INDUSTRY

Sometime between 1907 and 1909, Mariano Deveza, an uncle of Juan Racelis brought to Baliwag some bundles of tough buntal fiber from his hometown of Lucban, Tayabas. Fascinated by the sample raw fiber, Mrs. Dolores Maniquis, a friend of Racelis’ wife, experimented with it. She tried to soften the starnds with the use of a heavy wooden roller. This done, she started weaving the now pliant fiber into a hat, using the close or sawali weave. Then she trimmed the brim and presto, the first buntal hat in Baliwag had been produced. 

By 1910, hat weaving had become a booming cottage industry in Baliwag. One of the prominent pioneers of this industry was the late Anacleto Chico, alias Tandang Quito. Baliwag buntal hat, otherwise known as balibuntal or balihat essentially differen from Lucban buntal hat in texture and weaving method. The balibuntal hat was more closely woven and texturally finer. As the undistry grew, specialization inevitably set in and imporved production methods became satndard practice. Ever since the Baliwag buntal hat became a great dollar earning export during the 1920s, its manufacturing process has imporved appreciatively too.

Passed off abroad as Panama hat, the buntal hat beganto suffer a serious slump in sales in thelatter part of the 1920s because of cutthroat competition from China. It is said that sometiem in 1923, the Chinese in Hongkong hired Filipino weavers to work there.

After the war, the buntal hat undustry began to thrive new. Baliwag weavers were produring an average 40 000 hats a month until the 1960s.

Until now, the industry is still thriving hard to bring back its lost glory. There sure is the surviving producers optimistic agreement, if only the government would give it the protection and attention it deserves.
 
Historical Source: Baliuag: Then and Now by R. E. Villacorte
 
Disclaimer: We updated this article and added additional contents based on our interview in which we considered the relevance and authenticity of inclusion of some information.  The additional information are based on the data given to us only.  If you have any additional information, comments or suggestions you can send us a feedback.  Thanks!
 


Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
Comments (0)Add Comment

Write comment

busy

We Stand for Change!

donate

My Tambayan Profile




Easy Sign In
RPX

Online KaTambayan

Online KaTambayan
0 users and 53 guests online

Latest Events

Latest Events

No current events.

Usapang Baliwag

Halalan 2010

Related Links

Featured Ads