GAMABA

GAWAD SAMANLILIKH
MANLILIKH
NG
NG BAYAN
BAYAN
GAMABA
Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan Awards or GAMABA is an award that
acknowledges folk and indigenous artists who, despite the modern times, remain
true to their traditions.
It is administered by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)
through Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan Committee.
GAMABA began as a project of the Philippine Rotary Club Makati-Ayala. In
1992, it was adopted by the government and institutionalized through Republic
Act No. 7335.
This award aims to support and motivate these artists to preserve their artistic
heritage for the present and future generations. These artists are also recognized
as the country's National Living Treasures.
GAMABA
The Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) or the
National Living Treasures Award gives recognition to
Filipino traditional craftsmen or artisans whose skills
have reached a high level of technical and artistic
excellence and who are tasked to pass on to the present
generation knowledge threatened with extinction.
13 National Living
Treasures of the
Philippines
AMABA AWARDEE
UWANG AHADAS

• Musician
• Yakan
• Lamitan, Basilan
• GaMaBa 2000
He has made it his life's work to preserve and
promote Yakan culture through the traditional
music and instruments of his tribe. He has mastered
tha gabbang, the agung, the kwintangan kayu, and
others.
SAMAON SULAYMAN

• Musician
• Magindanao
• Mama sa Pano,
Maguindanao
• GaMaBa 1993
• Died in 2011
He’s a master in the use of the kulintang and
kutyapi of the Maguindanaons. His extensive
repertoire of dinaladay, linapu, minuna, and binalig
has demonstrated not only his own skills but their
culture.
ALONZO SACLAG
• Musician and Dancer
• Kalinga
• Lubugan, Kalinga
• GaMaBa 2000
He has worked for the preservation of Kalinga culture. He
lobbied that the abandoned Capitol Building be turned
into a museum, that schools implement the practice of
donning the Kalinga costume for important events, and
that traditional Kalinga music should be broadcasted
alongside contemporary music in the local radio station.
He also formed the Kalinga Budong Dance Troupe to
guarantee that his knowledge in the performing arts is
passed on to others.
MASINO INTARAY
• Musician and Storytell
• Pala’wan
• Brookes Point, Palawa
• GaMaBa 1993
• Died in 2013
He has mastered the traditions of his people—the
Palawan, Batak, and Tagbanwa in the highlands of
southern Palawan. He is skillful in basal (gong
music ensemble), kulilal (lyrical poem expressing
passionate love sang with the accompaniment of
the kusyapi), and bagit (instrumental music
depicting nature).
EDERICO CABALLERO
FEDERICO
CABALLERO
• Epic Chanter
• Sulod-Bukidnon
• Calinog, Iloilo
• GaMaBa 2000
He’s a Panay-Bukidnon from the mountains of
Central Panay, has worked hard to document the
oral literature of his people. He has preserved the
epics that use a language that has long been dead
by working together with scholars, artists, and
advocates of culture.
GINAW BILOG
• Poet
• Hanunuo Mangyan
• Panaytayan, Oriental
Mindoro
• GaMaBa 1993
• Died in 2003
He helped preserved the Mangyan literary tradition
by documenting the pieces of ambahan recorded not
only on bamboo tubes but also on notebooks passed
on to him. The ambahan is a poetic literary form
composed of seven-syllables. It is usually sung.
TEOFILO GARCIA
• Casque (tabungaw)
Maker
• Ilocano
• San Quintin, Abra
• GaMaBa 2012
He had learned how to make gourd casques and
weave baskets from his grandfather at the age of
16. Since he learned the craft, he never stopped
experimenting with other designs. He previously
used nito (vine trimmings) to decorate the headgear
and then used with other materials such as bamboo
after his supplier from Cagayan passed away.
DARHATA SAWABI

• Textile Weaver
• Tausug
• Parang, Sulu
• GaMaBa 2004
• Died in 2005
She’s one of the master weavers in the island of
Jolo. Like most women in their tribe, she has
learned the art of weaving the pis syabit, the
traditional cloth tapestry worn as head cover by the
Tausug of Jolo, from her mother.
LANG DULAY

• Textile Weaver
• T’boli
• Lake Sebu, South
Cotabato
• GaMaBa 1998
• Died in 2015
The T'bolis are known for their use of abaca fibers
in textile weaving. Lang Dulay continued this
tradition and preserved the culture of their
community through patterns of crocodiles,
butterflies, flowers, mountains, and streams and of
Lake Sebu in her works.
SALINTA MONON
• Textile Weaver
• Tagabawa Bagobo
• Bansalan, Davao
del Sur
• GaMaBa 1998
• Died in 2009
She started learning weaving traditional Bagobo
textiles from her mother at the age of 12. Her family
is among the remaining Bagobo weavers in the
community.
MAGDALENA GAMAYO

• Textile (inabel)
Weaver
• Ilocano
• Pinili, Ilocos Norte
• GaMaBa 2012
In her profile, it was reported that Magdalena has
taught herself the traditional patterns of binakol,
inuritan (geometric design), kusikos (spiral forms
similar to oranges), and sinan-sabong (flowers).
She has learned the art of weaving from her aunt
and started harnessing her innate skills at the age of
16. She may be in her late 80s but she still manages
to arrange threads on the loom, which is the hardest
task in textile weaving.
HAjA AMINA APPI

• Mat Weaver
• Sama
• Tandubas, Tawi-
Tawi
• GaMaBa 2004
She was recognized as the master mat weaver
among the Sama indigenous community of Ungos
Matata. Her mats are known for their complex
geometric patters, proportion, and unique
combination of colors.
EDUARDO MUTUC
• Metalsmith
• Kapampangan
• Apalit, Pampanga
• GaMaBa 2004
He dedicated his life in sculpting retablos, mirrors,
altars, and carosas from silver, bronze, and wood.
Some of his works can exceed 40 feet while the
others feature smaller size and delicate
craftmanships.