My first custom barong with Badlit or Suwat Binisaya
I’ve always wanted to customize my own barong, so when I had the opportunity to do it earlier this year, the first thing I thought of was my mom’s home province.
On top of this, for the first time in my life I was asked to be a Best Man for a wedding. I had known Joseph since we worked together for the Haribon Foundation and we shared many rides, tree treks, and birdwatching events together throughout the past several years. His now wife Kath is also a close friend of mine, as we both share an affinity for Baybayin and Suwat Binisaya. In fact we all met at Haribon, so our shared advocacy for the environment is ultimately the reason why I have this awesome barong, let alone these friendships.
When Kath asked me if I wanted a barong customized by yet another person we knew from work, the talented Marisol Dublan, I immediately said yes. Her husband Kiko Dublan had long managed a reforestation site and tree nursery called Buhay Punlaan in Laguna.
For my barong, I imagined a design featuring a well-known landmark from my mom’s home province of Bohol – the Chocolate Hills – emblazoned across the bottom with the Bohol Sea in front of it.
I then thought about how to make it even more unique to me – until I realized nothing represents a person better than their own name. Since I’ve been practicing both Baybayin and Suwat Binisaya (aka Badlit), I decided to add my last name to the barong in Suwat Binisaya.
On the day of the wedding, I met the presiding priest for Kath and Joseph’s ceremony, Bishop Romar delos Reyes. He also got a customized barong via Mam Marisol, this one representing a mountain he actually grew up on, Mt. Kitanglad in Mindanao.
I later heard that the person who embroidered our barongs had recently passed. It was Marisol who coordinated everything and got our barongs the right fit and size, but it was the embroiderer who created the masterpiece on what was already such a unique canvas. Marisol and the embroiderers she works with are from Lumban, Laguna, a town long renowned for their artistry in embroidery.
Despite feeling a bit closer to the people behind the artistry of my barong – way closer than the people that put together the clothes I get from the ukay ukay (used clothing stores) – I still feel so distant. Probably because a lot of the coordination happened via Messenger while I was in Pangasinan, Kath was in Metro Manila, and Mam Marisol and her team were in Laguna. One of these days I’ll visit Laguna again, and actually meet the next artist I commission face to face.