By JAILEEN F. JIMENO

www.pcij.org

Conclusion

The town’s solution is to plant new trees and apply fertilizer to those already bearing fruit, to coax higher production. But as its bad luck would have it, even the town’s lanzones industry has been plagued by unethical business practices. Locals complain that strangers pitch stalls along the highway and sell lanzones, making it appear that their produce comes from Paete.

AND SO with their town’s traditional sources of income threatened and weakened, more and more of Paete’s youths are seeking their fortunes elsewhere. One local official estimates that over 1,000 woodcarvers have sought employment in hotels and on luxury cruise ships.

"At least they’re earning," says Cagayat, who chooses to view the exodus of future talents in a positive light. Yet for many woodcarvers like Cagayat, whose family has been in the woodcarving business for three generations, those who use ice as a medium have juvenile skills at best. They say one can easily make adjustments in a melting medium; an error in wood is permanent.

Artist and storeowner Lino Madridejos Dalay, who sells woodcarvings and papier-mâché products, views the departure of their young talents with sadness. "We’re losing the town’s next generation of artists," he says.

Sanchez has a more profound longing for the town’s old ways and values. She says that in the past, townsfolk here put a high premium on education, so much so that even those who eventually became part of Paete’s creative pool of artisans were graduates of four-year college courses.

"We had parents who carved, fished, planted rice, or sold lanzones, but they had children who finished medicine or law," reminisces Sanchez. "And that was in an era when families had seven to 10 children."

She worries that that era is gone, as the town’s young people are lured by the high income that comes with cruise ships and five-star hotels. "There’s no pride in other things," says Sanchez. "Woodcarving and lanzones, that’s what Paete is all about."

There are, however, plans to make carving a part of the town’s high school curriculum, and a school specifically for carving is also in the works. To enliven interest in the town’s products, exhibits and trade fairs are held with funding from the DTI.

Sanchez concedes with a heavy heart that because of the economic slump they are facing, and despite the celebrated artistry that resides in Paete, they have to innovate to survive the current times. At least while they wait for their next golden age.