KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / 21 May) — The Greater Kidapawan Area is home to one of Mindanao’s most elusive textile traditions: Monuvu Inavoo.
The word “inavoo” means “woven,” and is a cognate of many other Mindanawon words that have become terms for textiles. These include Bagobo Tagabawa “inabal” and Klata “nawwo,” which are also the names of those cultures’ weaving traditions.
Unlike Inabal and Nawwo which are already considerably documented, Inavoo remains poorly studied. It was not included in the cultural mapping of Kidapawan, but the now defunct Kidapawan City History and Heritage Research Team made initial documentation efforts.
The data we got implied that Inavoo was a closely related tradition to Inabal and Nawwo. This is unsurprising considering the three cultures neighbor one another and are the ones most commonly called “Bagobo.” But there are certain marked differences.
For one, we observed that the term “Inavoo” seems to be used exclusively for textiles woven out of Abaca. This contrasts with Inabal and Nawwo, terms which also include dyed cotton textiles. There are specimens in Kidapawan of cotton textiles tie-dyed in a pattern called Tutup (the technique in Tagabawa is called Plangi), used to make the Tongkuu headdress. But we do not hear the Monuvu calling it “Inavoo,” contrasting with how Inabal and Nawwo includes a distinct Plangi dyed cloth called Tinangkulo.
Inavoo weaving is perhaps the most elaborate form of Abaca use in the Greater Kidapawan Area, an area with a long and special history with Musa textilis. Abaca was the first cash crop of Kidapawan, with the Americans and Japanese alike encouraging the mass cultivation of this indigenous plant.
A noticeable peculiarity of Inavoo we noted is the scarcity of black. The leaves of the tree which in Monuvu is called Kinarum (Diospyros nitida) is the main source of the color black in Mindanao’s abaca textiles, and while it is known in the Greater Kidapawan Area, it is now rather uncommon there (even a barangay in Magpet, Kinarom, has few trees). The cause of this scarcity is a mystery, but it seems to be longstanding as even older Inavoo specimens have little black. Whether this scarcity has shaped or is shaped by local taste is worth interrogating.
An exception to this however is a century-old piece created by the late Boi Bonggayan Enangcob, wife of Datu Ayun Umpan and now owned by her great-granddaughter Sikami Bayawan. The piece is predominantly black, allowing us to speculate that Kinarom was at some point more abundant in Kidapawan than it is now.
One possible difference we noted—but which needs further research—is in the weaving process: the involvement of men. In most other textile traditions, the polishing of cloth (a process that uses cowrie shells pushed down with a beam to spread beeswax) is usually performed by men as it demands strength. In contrast, we noted in Kidapawan that men were discouraged from this task, as there is danger that if a shell slips, it could hit the man’s genitals. The polish in Monuvu is called Lihis, and although it is traditionally made of cowrie shells, a family in Bowkanon, Ilomavis keeps as heirloom a Lihis that is a recycled glass pin insulator.
We have yet to document patterns traditional to the Inavoo, but one recurring pattern we observed is Binokkosan, inspired by the patterns of a python’s skin. Although observed in Inabal and Nawwo too, we have yet to determine if the term exists in Tagabawa and Klata.
Other than these differences, Inavoo seems to be similar in weaving techniques with Inabal and Nawwo. There are many specimens of single weave Inavoo (making it superficially similar to Blaan Mabal Tabih), but there are also heirloom samples of the rarer and more demanding double weave (Oruwa Tolliyan, what in Tagabawa is called Dua Talliyan), which results in narrow, intricate bands of distinct patterns woven in a single cloth.
Like Inabal and Nawwo, Inavoo is often used as skirts (Detdet in Monuvu). They were traditionally highly prized, and often included part of the exchange of wealth during marriage rituals. Once received they are subsequently kept for generations—almost all surviving samples in Kidapawan are Pusaka, sacred heirlooms often imbued with supernatural abilities.
We experienced the supernatural properties of one specimen, that in the custody of Boi Era España of Mua-an. Boi Era’s Inavoo detdet is over a century old, and is inherited from Boi Lomboni of Mua-an. She agreed to loan it to the now defunct Kidapawan City Cultural Heritage Museum, but on the night before we were to get it, a deceased relative appeared to her in a dream, warning against making the piece of cloth leave the house. In the end she had to offer us an alternative item to exhibit at the museum.
Inavoo, as mentioned, is poorly documented. Anthropologists who studied the Monuvu like E. Arsenio Manuel and Albert Alejo only made passing reference to the culture’s weaving traditions.
The most detailed documentation to date has been the 2023 study “Indigenous Knowledge, Systems, and Practices of the Obo Monuvu in Magpet, Cotabato, Philippines” by Jayson Carungay Ibanez of the Philippine Eagle Foundation. Citing information sourced directly from Boi Elma Supida Dañola, the late Od Aavoo (weaver) Boi Fidela Egaan, and Datu Basilio Padaya Sr. (all of Barangay Manobo, formerly Tico, Magpet), Ibanez puts in print some details into the weaving tradition: the parts of the Ovollan (literally “where one weaves in,” and specifically referring to the backstrap handloom, but metonymically referring to the whole weaving space); the weaving process; and the different types of Inavoo.
Ibanez identifies three types: Oruwa Tolliyan, Lumbus Binodbod (which he describes as “pure design, without any thin lines”), and Kinatkat (“lines with varying thickness forming a striped pattern”).
The spirit associated with the weaving process is Tohomaling, which is also associated with fate and the outcome of things.
Most intriguingly, Ibanez documents his sources alluding to “a PhD Student from USM Kabacan” who compiled the Inavoo patterns and their meanings. As of this writing I have yet to locate this student in question, but his/her work is still unavailable in online academic platforms.
I am made to understand that North Cotabato’s Museyo Kutawato also made some sort of documentation, but much of the results of this are inaccessible—all that is known is that they unsuccessfully nominated Boi Fidela to the Gawad Manlilikha ng Bayan award.
In the Greater Kidapawan Area, we could locate only one area where Inavoo weaving is still taking place, Tico in Magpet. Historically, there were known weavers in Sayaban, Mua-an, and some villages in Arakan. Kidapawan City itself has not seen weaving in decades—the youngest specimens we found were some 40 or 50 years old.
We know there was some effort to innovate in these more recent pieces—the Inavoo of Boi Ligaya Ando Serrano (and inherited by Boi Gemma Andot), for instance, uses artificial dyes and reveals a weaver willing to embrace modernity.
Why Inavoo weaving declined is also a subject for further research, and it may well offer much insight into Kidapawan’s social and cultural history, especially in the last few decades.
What is certain is that Inavoo weaving is an intangible heritage property at risk of disappearing before it could be properly studied.
As I am involved in Leonardo Cariño’s ongoing research into Iranun Binalodan Inaul, T’boli T’nalak, and Blaan Mabal Tabih, I cannot help but pine—and worry—for my own hometown’s weaving traditions.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Karlo Antonio G. David has been writing the history of Kidapawan City for the past thirteen years. He has documented seven previously unrecorded civilian massacres, the lives of many local historical figures, and the details of dozens of forgotten historical incidents in Kidapawan. He was invested by the Obo Monuvu of Kidapawan as “Datu Pontivug,” with the Gaa (traditional epithet) of “Piyak nod Pobpohangon nod Kotuwig don od Ukaa” (Hatchling with a large Cockscomb, Already Gifted at Crowing). The Don Carlos Palanca and Nick Joaquin Literary Awardee has seen print in Mindanao, Cebu, Dumaguete, Manila, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, and Tokyo. His first collection of short stories, “Proclivities: Stories from Kidapawan,” came out in 2022.)
========================================
On this section of Moppiyon Kahi diid Patoy, we remember important dates and incidents that took place in Kidapawan history.
6 April 1957 – the Kidapawan Municipal Council passed Resolution 21, the first comprehensive list of Kidapawan’s barrios. The resolution names 89 barrios, and in its wording does not create them per se but recognizes them as already extant and makes them official.
7 April 1978 – Kidapawan took part in the Interim Batasang Pambansa elections. No one from Kidapawan would be elected members of the IBP, but former mayor Juan Sibug and sitting Councilor Fransico Rabang were elected to the regional assembly (the Sangguniang Pampook).
9 April 1980 – Kidapawan celebrated a “Mt Apo Centennial” climb, to commemorate the expedition of the Spaniard Joaquin Rajal. This celebration completely ignored Apao, who in Monuvu oral history climbed the mountain at least a century before Rajal.
11 April 1985 – Fr Tullio Favali, OMI, a priest attached to the Diocese of Kidapawan, was killed in Tulunan by members of the paramilitary group Ilaga, led by Norberto Manero.
13 April 1973 – A group of petitioners, led by Engr. Gaudencio Ortiz and sponsored by Joseph Sibug, appeared before the council. Ortiz and his group were petitioning for Pendatun Street to be renamed to “Senator Gaudencio Antonino Street.” The petitioners were motivated by the fact that the street’s namesake, Salipada Pendatun, was still alive and was implicated in the ongoing Moro insurgency.
16 April 1951 – Siawan Ingkal was appointed Special Agent to the Governor by Udtog Matalam, forcing him to vacate his seat as Vice Mayor. The President appointed Datu Bulatukan Lambac of Malasila to take over.
17 April 1954 – The Municipal Council expressed opposition to the formation of Makilala, passing Resolution 56. Later they would agree to it on condition that the border be set along the Malaang river. This too was ignored.
22 April 1973 – the house of Datu Lapugan of Barrio Marbel was burned, with Bartolome Presto, son-in-law of San Roque Barrio Captain Leopoldo Enghog, accused of the deed.
25 April 1972 – Engracio Vallente, a patrolman who was killed in service. Vallente was responding to a hold up case in front of the Kidapawan Commercial, but ended up being shot dead during the succeeding encounter.
2 May, 1974 – Dominador Apostol, sitting mayor of Magpet, was assassinated in Barrio Mateo, Kidapawan. Also killed were chief of police, Mariano Palmones Jr., and two security personnel, Patrolmen Honteveros Embac and Vivencio Pillo.
8 May 1967 – The barrios and sitios of Butsi, Kabunuangan, Salat, part of Arakan, Kisupaan, Sarayan, Naje, Datu Selio, Basak, Roxas, Labo-o, Idauman, Camarahan, Tuael, Magsaysay, New Cebu, Del Carmen, Kamasi, Kisupa-an, Kiyab, Lohong, New Camiguin, and Lebpas were separated from Kidapawan to create the Municipality of President Roxas, by virtue of Republic Act 4869.
9 May 1936 – Commonwealth president Manuel Quezon declared portions of the municipal district of Kidapawan as part of the Mt Apo National Park by virtue of Proclamation No. 59 of 1936.
12 May 1977 – Four prisoners escaped from a jail in Malalag and fled to Kidapawan, hiding in Barangay San Roque, where the men set up a hideout. The Malalag Police coordinated with the Kidapawan INP and the local government to apprehend the men. In the course of the operation (which succeeded in killing the four), a man named Augustin Bunayog and his son were hit in the crossfire.
16 May 1972 – the Cotabato Electric Cooperative (COTELCO) was set up in Kidapawan.
