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.