Labor woes, lack of workers hamper Sagada weave trade

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province - In this town famous for its woven products made by nearly 100 women-weavers, seamstresses and tailors, 27 weaving firms and two organizations are facing labor issues, lack of seamstresses and a processing center for dyemaking.

In a workshop-forum last month conducted by Sagada Inabe, major issues presented by the weavers were claims of below minimum wages and lack or no benefits. One of the participants said they are paid wages at P250 per day for a long time since they entered establishment they are working in.

 An overtime pay is P2 an hour, one claimed. President Rodrigo Duterte in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last year announced an increase of minimum wage per day from P270 to a high of P400 per day depending on area.

Wage Order No. RAB- CAR-19 provides a P315 minimum wage per day for 11 or more employees and P305 minimum wage for 10 or less employees fro Sagada, Bontoc and Bauko; and P300 minimum wage in other parts of Mountain Province.   

A weaver claimed they are paid on piece rate P50- 60 pesos per meter of the woven cloth they weave which in most cases means weavers could get around 250 per day of non – stop weaving except for some minutes of rest including lunch.

This along with the need for sewers noted to be a major problem in the weaving industry of this town. An owner of a weaving firm with only three se said she needs at least four to work on stand-by sewing machines.

 This writer who manages Sagada Inabe, an organization of women weavers employs one seamstress and is in need of more. Weavers are part time farmers – and for some — part time masseurs.

Technical and Educational Skills Development Authority (TESDA) director for Mountain Province lawyer Eric Ueda urged the participants to avail of the skills trainings given by TESDA.

Participants also forwarded the need for plant fibers as material for dyes and fabric as alternative to the expensive polyester thread sold in the country and imported from China

Lucia Capuyan Catanes, research and designs manager of Narda’s Enterprises encouraged weavers to experiment on their designs. She cited good practices of “sayang” and/or “kailala” to use scrap and local materials for use in designs of woven items as she learned from her mother, Narda Capuyan, founder of the internationally famous Narda’s Enterprises.

Juliet Lucas Department of Trade and Industry director for Mountain Province hammered on the importance of noting value chain in the weaving industry along with the need to significantly know what to focus on in packaging one’s product.

 Weaving in Mountain Province started in the 1970s when Andrea Bondad started Sagada Weaving. Though weaving started at Easter Weaving in 1908 with weaving as part of the student’s homeroom, Virginia Doligas, manager of Easter Weaving said.

Doligas encouraged weavers to avail of weaving opportunities at Easter Weaving. Early weavers from Sagada Weaving formed their own enterprise among some are Indigenous Handicrafts, Langbay’s Handicrafts, and Sagada View Handicrafts. Others started their own among some are Kamowan, Ethnic Handicrafts , 7Js Mountainside, Sagada Kindasan, North Weaving, Sagada Cave Arts and Crafts.

 Some weavers split from Sagada Weaving and formed their own organization, Pinagpagan. Sagada Inabe is inspired from the many individual weaving enterprises and put up a weavers’ cooperative. Some participants forwarded their need for sewing machines.

Minerva Songaben, Research Specialist of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Mountain Province encouraged the weavers to forward proposals to avail of DOST’s program on support for equipment like sewing machines and weaving looms.

Capital is still a concern forwarded by the participants. Venus Padayao, focal person on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMSE) of the provincial government of Mountain Province advised participants to approach the said office. The workshop- forum was supported by Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan, engineer Jupiter Dominguez and Ms Cymbeline Lumpias Pooten