Yabing Masalon Dulo (Fu Bai Yabing)
August 8, 1914 - January 26, 2021
POLOMOLOK, South Cotabato — Yabing Masalon Dulo, Blaan master weaver, lived beyond a century and left a legacy that inscribed her far-flung tribal community in the country’s culture and arts landscape.
Bai Yabing was born in Sitio Amguo Barangay Landan in Polomolok town, South Cotabato, on August 8, 1914. Fondly called Fu Yabing, she was a revered bai or princess in their tribal community that thrived for centuries in an enclave at the foot of Mt. Matutum. That is where she honed her craft. (Fu is an endearment used by a non family member to address an old Blaan woman, like lola for Tagalogs.) At the age of 14, Fu Yabing began weaving. Her tabih (handwoven colored abaka) are considered marvels. The Philippine National Museum has one of them on display. Fu Yabing, who passed away on January 26 at the age of 106, is a prime mover in the preservation of the Blaan mabal tabih (ikat weaving) and among the three traditional weavers from Mindanao who were declared as “national living treasures” and conferred with the Gawad Manlilikha ng Bayan for 2016 through Proclamation 126 issued on January 6, 2017 by President Duterte.
For instance, She was a purist, artist and belongs to the old school. She tells her grandniece that she cannot bear to see commercial looms added to the tabih weaving process. Instead, she retreats to the platform where she slowly and deliberately ties each strand of the immaculate abaca fiber to create a loom. It was rare public display of her skills as the foremost master of the Blaan craft of mabal tabih in commercials. Like many artists, she wants her art pure and unadulterated. She is very meticulous, envious and protective of her craft.
She also taught mabal tabih art to Lamina Dulo Gulili, her only daughter, and other women in the village to help maintain the trade. The future and sustainability of the Blaan culture on Mabal Tabih in Landan, Polomolok is now in the hands of Lamina Dulo Gulili (daughter of Manlilikha ng Bayan Bai Yabing Masalon Dulo) and her children.
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