The province of Bulacan is more than the seat of Tagalog culture. In the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountain live the Dumagat, an indigenous people whose traditional ways are closer to the animist, forest-dwelling Aeta or Agta. In Sitio Iyak, Barangay Kabayunan, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts set up a School of Living Traditions for the Dumagat youth to learn about the language of leaves and other deeper aspects of music and dance.

The Ati or Aeta are considered the original dwellers of the Philippines, whose knowledge of the forest has not only resulted in a vast store of survival techniques, but a lifestyle that values balance and sustainability. In Marikudo village in Negros Occidental, the School of Living Traditions for the Ati community focuses on the preservation of their language and weaving as a means of livelihood.

We travel to the School of Living Traditions in Balut Island, Davao Occidental where aspects of Blaan and Sangir traditions are being preserved. Here, the school is devoted to preserving cultural activities like cooking and weaving traditional to the Blaan and Sangir people. And despite the many difficulties of running a School of Living Traditions, the masters and cultural workers here remain always eager to impart knowledge and ready to discover more facets of culture.

Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan recipient Estelita Bantilan has long been acknowledged as a master weaver. Her work is recognized for the tightness of the weave and the compelling mix of color and patterns. While many of the other weavers make mats with sellability in mind, Estelita Bantilan still faithfully adheres to the motifs she learned as child. However, she is not averse to exploring new ways in which these designs can be introduced to a larger community.

Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan recipient Yabing Dulo is a healer, medium and a matriarch of the Blaan people in Polomolok, South Cotabato. She is also a master weaver and dyer of abaca. Her mastery is Ikat, that complex method of weaving that combines the knowledge of the forest and its products and a skill that turns these products into a woven textile. We meet those who have taken part in helping Yabing Dulo promote her art. And while the National Commission for Culture and the Arts continues to guide and monitor her efforts, her vocation is to teach and pass the ancient traditions to the younger generation.

In this episode of Dayaw, we see how the Yakan, through times of war and peace, have carried the traditions that are complex and vital. The Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan has honored two Yakan traditional artists for their efforts to preserve and promote the musical and weaving traditions of their people. Uwang Ahadas is the virtuoso whose mastery of Yakan rhythms and instruments has stimulated a renewed interest and study in this most dynamic form of Yakan intangible heritage. Ambalang Ausalin, a weaver, carries a whole tradition of intricate and technologically precise patterns of Yakan textiles.