We were told that it was the first and only living museum in the Philippines. I thought I should dispute that, recalling how the distinction might be rightfully owned by the Lamlifew Village Museum run by the B’laans in Sarangani, which was inaugurated by the National Museum of the Philippines in late 2007, and launched in the Lamlifew Village almost a year later.
But researching on that recently, I realize that it’s not called a living museum anymore. Maybe it was then just an informal tag for the cultural village that offered samples of B’laan architecture, art and crafts, specifically their music, dress and beadwork.
Established by the Lamlifew Women’s Tribal Association, it has since become a functioning museum displaying an artifact collection that includes antique garments and weaponry.
Where we were over a week ago, in Malay town, Aklan, the jump-off point to Boracay, we had the privilege of visiting the Motag Living Museum, which is but a brief ride from Caticlan.
We had spent the day and night at Finca Verde, a private farm and prospective wellness spa run by Binggoy and Niña Remedios with their little daughter Chabeli. It was so close to the dream island with the 7th best beach in the world, per Trip Advisor, that we managed to slip away from the farm close to sundown and make the crossing in time to have Saturday dinner at Binggoy’s Dos Mestizos. Then we went right back by boat to the mainland for our overnight stay.
The next morning we were led from Finca Verde, which has a delightful stream running through it, to the neighboring rustic museum that’s also in Barangay Naaboy.
A carved log serves as a central post for the weaving hut.
A British lady, Louise, set up the place when she returned after a first visit, with her museum experience in the UK serving her in good stead. Presently, she herself gives a guided tour of the living museum that offers an interactive environment revolving around local farm life.
The Motag tour starts at a rock-lined deep well typical of those where rural folk draw water. The implements for conducting the exercise involve sets of bamboo poles, for collecting and storing the water, as demonstrated by Louise.
Next stop is a native hut of bamboo and palm weave walls, beside it a wood and bamboo harrow (ligis) and a sledge (carusa) for transporting goods. All of the farm implements on display have proper name tags with descriptions. Even the flora that surround the cluster of huts have identificatory tags, such as for the papaya and beetle nut palm (bunga).
Past the traditional nipa hut are three makeshift structures: a children’s playhouse that resembles an open tree house with a hammock under an upper deck, a roofed area for cooking, and a roofed bamboo deck with no front wall so as to accommodate viewers taking in the activities of a group of weavers.
Before the playhouse is an open gate that trails off to rice fields, with the nearest paddies serving as a demonstration area for phases of rice planting. A couple of carabaos serve in the hands-on demonstration.
Motag is billed as a living museum not only because it showcases daily life in agrarian communities, but also because it promotes interactive participation from among the small tour groups, with a dozen or so participants each, often with foreigners and their children.
These kids thus see how their counterparts in Philippine farmlands conduct themselves at playtime, with toys such as stilts and coconut halves strung up with rope and used as toy footwear. The rural kids also demonstrate the use of large palm fronds as pulling sleds.
Clay stoves are featured in the cooking area, from which leaf-wrapped delicacies make their way to a tall, narrow table, while in another corner, fresh coconuts are halved for their sweet water and soft meat that is extricated with coconut spoons.
At the open hut that looks more like a stage, half-a-dozen women weave palm strips into baskets, square balls and toy birds, again showing the typical agrarian community’s practice of providing youngsters with sundry objects for playtime.
Behind the ensemble are shelves displaying handicrafts for sale: woven bags and kitchen implements made of coconut wood and bamboo.
The complete tour takes about a couple of hours of fascinating immersion in agrarian culture and lifestyle. Despite its modest perspective, it still provides city folk and foreigners more than a glimpse into an exotic environment.
Our group was happy to have been given the chance to immerse ourselves in this farming environment. Here’s hoping that the Motag Living Museum of Naaboy, Aklan can be replicated in other parts of our country.
After our open museum tour, we still managed to ferry ourselves by boat anew from Caticlan to Boracay in time for not-so-late lunch. Venue was the Boracay Terraces Resort’s 7,107 Islands resto-bar, where the weekend trip also allowed for environmental enlightenment.
Lara Tajanlangit Buenaventura, eldest daughter of our friend Steve Tajanlangit, Boracay pioneer who regrettably passed away a few years ago, helps spearhead a nearly decade-old conservation effort for the island.
Presently, this effort is concentrated on protecting the environment that sustains endangered fruit bats or flying foxes. One of Steve’s legacies was the establishment of a forest sanctuary for the fruit bats within the Eco-village he developed.
For this advocacy, Lara has teamed up with Julia Lervik of Lemon Cafe and Diniview Villas on Diniwid beach. She’s the president of the Friends of Flying Foxes in Boracay. Their group seeks to ensure protection of the forest behind Puka Beach.
The challenge is to encourage the local government and local community as well as the present and future owners of island properties to realize the importance of the wildlife sanctuary in protecting the fragile island ecosystem.
For now the least frequented among Boracay’s beaches, Puka shell beach is on the northern part of the island, surrounded by green hills comprising a tropical beach forest that’s home to a wide range of wildlife: bats, turtles, lizards, monkeys and birds.
There are three fruit bat species: the Golden-Crowned Flying Fox (Aceradon jubatus), endemic to the Philippines and which has been categorized as among the endangered species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List; the Giant Fruit Bat (Pteropus vampyrus); and the Small Flying Fox (Pteropus hypomelanus). As keystone species of the island’s ecosystem, they pollinate and help germinate trees, thus reforesting the island and the northwestern Panay peninsula.
To appeal for support, Julia Lervik writes: “Boracay’s water source actually comes from the forest in the mainland that these bats also reforest. The roost sites are located on the hills above Puka shell beach and vary from season to season, based on the wind directions.”
The forest on the island’s northwest side starts near Shangri-La Boracay, whose management, thankfully, has been quite supportive of the environmental advocacy. Encroaching development is a constant threat to this forest.
Julia adds: “We need to protect the whole forest ridge, for the island’s ecosystem to stay intact. We need to keep one beach unspoilt and pristine, for the ocean reefs to stay healthy.
“By Philippine law, the forest is already declared as forestland, thus supposed to be protected, and the beaches are protected under the same law nationwide. The tropical fruit bats are (in turn) protected by the Philippine wildlife act.
“However, this is not always enough as developers constantly push to bend the laws, wanting to develop the land. As the governing hand changes every four years, the previous work to protect becomes forgotten and the same procedures start all over, to teach and educate and fight for the protection of this fragile ecosystem, as some of the developers manage to get the rules bent.”
Having the forest of Yapak declared as a wildlife sanctuary will help ensure the maintenance of Boracay’s ecosystem. Protecting Puka beach will also ensure that future generations can enjoy a pristine beach, which is, after all, what the island is all about.
Lara has been so passionate in this advocacy that she’s had special items included in their resto-bar’s menu: The Flying Fox (coconut milk, Lakan lambanog, fresh pineapple); the Kabog Shake (mango, banana, mint, milk, cinnamon and coconut milk); and the Fruit Bat Mango Pancake — with 10% of the proceeds from these items “donated to the educational campaign of Friends of the Flying Foxes to protect the fruit bats of Boracay.”
Highlighted is the fighting slogan: “Save the flying foxes — gardeners of the forest.”