NV’s GaMaBa nominees down to just one

NV’s GaMaBa nominees down to just one

Adolfo Pacnal Quiwegh, a widely known Bugkalot tribal leader and cultural expert from Brgy. Pelaway of Nueva Vizcaya’s southernmost municipality of Alfonso Castañeda, succumbed to death last March 13 after his long battle with multiple chronic diseases. He was 89 years old.

He passed away while waiting for the result of his nomination for the National Living Treasures Award, alternatively known as “Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan” (GaMaBa), under the auspices of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), as institutionalized through Republic Act No. 7355.

He is survived by his wife, Sublina Kidmay Quiwegh, who is also a nominee for the said award, and their three-generation descendants.

As conceptualized, a “Manlilikha ng Bayan” is “a Filipino citizen engaged in any uniquely Filipino traditional art, whose distinctive skills have reached a high level of technical excellence and have been passed on to and widely practiced by the present generation in his/her community with the same degree of technical and artistic competence.”

Supervising Tourism Operations Officer Marichelle Orden Costales, Chief of the Provincial Tourism and Culture Office, said, “It was only by chance that I learned about the program during one of my official visits to the NCCA.” She then immediately mobilized her staff to conduct intensive research on the program, and identify and document potential nominees.

Governor Carlos M. Padilla who also personally knew the Quiwegh couple and their native crafts pushed the initiative.

Both are well known among their fellow tribal members as experts in making Bugkalot native attires and accessories, having been in the trade for more than five decades.

Mr. Quiwegh’s notable indigenous products include: (a) native attire accessories: “Kaget”, a brass belt worn by male and female Bugkalots; “Kina-vet”/”Kina wit”, a manually chained set of brass wires; and “Tukbed”, a headdress made of Hornbill’s beak; (b) musical instruments: “Kulising at Sepalat”, a Bamboo guitar with accompanying stick; “Gisada”, a two-string wooden violin; and “Tulale”, a Bamboo flute; and (c) weaponry: “Kaluban”, a machete wood casing ornamented with shells, beads, and horsehair; “Kingkong”, a Bugkalot shield made of hardwood; spears; and bows and arrows.