For two years at Baguio, a place of eternal spring (at 4,500 feet elevation), I accustomed myself to Philippine local life: the Baguio earthquake of 1990; Mt. Pinatubo's eruption in 1991; and many other natural disasters. In another big and fortunate event, I found my wife, an Igorot ("people in the sky") of the Ibaloi tribe. After I left the Duntog Foundation, I took a field trip to visit the papermakers in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. As a result, I published the report, Hishi, Today and Tomorrow, Philippine Handmade Paper '92, for the second Philippine National Handmade Paper Conference, held in Manila in April, 1992. Hishi is undergoing a kind of boom in the Philippines, but most of the paper being made is thick and I am less interested in it; I prefer very thin papers. More than thirty kinds of fiber can be used for papermaking in the Philippines. There could be new uses for native papers, made using Western and Japanese techniques, but no tradition of papermaking exists in the Philippines. Any papermaking there would have to be part of a new tradition, even if the paper were made Nepalese or Korean style. The problem with handmade paper in the Philippines is that not many resources are being put into research and development. Cogon grass, abaca, wild banana, and pina (pineapple) are all abundant and are being made into interesting papers. Various papers are being made from other fibers, too: buri, cabo negro, coconut coir, kenaf, maguey, ramie, salago (Philippine gampi), and silk mulberry. During my field trip I was looking for a nice place for papermaking. Ilocos Norte (where former President Ferdinand Marcos was born) and Aklan Provinces caught my eye. Maguey and salago grow wild in Ilocos Norte and the Philippine Forestry Development Project there has shown some interest in harvesting them for papermaking. In Aklan, native pina is already cultivated for weaving. Native pina has two fibers: liniwan and bastos. Liniwan is used for weaving. Kami Philippines, Inc. Kami Philippines, Inc. (KPI) was establish in February 1993 in Tina, Makato, Aklan. KPI makes pina bastos paper Western-style, in two sizes. About four hundred kilograms of pina bastos fiber per year is produced as a by-product when liniwan fiber is extracted from the pina for weaving. Pina bastos has an average length of 4 mm and is a little longer than Japanese gampi fiber. When it is extracted, dirty parts are removed and the bastos fiber is quite pure. A facility has been set up in Tina with a building, Hollander beater, and papermaking tools. A cement wall is used for drying, although a heated dryer will be needed for the rainy season. Fuel for the dryer can be found in the core of the coconut leaf (which is used for cooking in Aklan). The people of the next province, Iloilo, practice bamboo crafts and perhaps a bamboo screen can be made for KPI in the future. Aklan has a large potential for papermaking and KPI is designed to serve as a research and development center for pina handmade paper. Pina Papermaking One kilogram of bastos fiber can be extracted from about 1,100 native pina leaves, which also yield about one third kilogram of liniwan fiber. The bastos fiber currently is discarded as waste. The pina bastos fiber is cut into one inch sections. Then it is cooked directly, without pre-soaking, in water. A large can is used for cooking the fiber. The fire is fueled by sawdust and two or three pieces of wood; this is a very efficient way to cook as sawdust is a kind of waste and very cheap. An 8% solution of caustic soda is used for cooking pina. Mr. Jairus Lachica owns Paperius Arts & Crafts in Kalibo and works at the Department of Science and Technology, Aklan Office. He has taught most of the other papermakers in Aklan: Vicente Baylon in Makato; Sumra dela Cruz in Kalibo; Sister Mila Magadia of Our Lady of Providence in Balete; Pink Sister in New Washington; Bobby Deco in Kalibo; and the papermakers of the Corte-Guanco Cooperative in Balete. They make paper using pina, abaca, sugar cane, and salago. They form sheets on a silkscreen-type mold and couch directly onto plywood or a cement wall. I introduced them to Western style papermaking using pina pulp and to the use of synthetic tororo-aoi. Pina has more hemicellulose and it is similar to tororo-aoi, but a little dispersing agent makes a difference: pulp formation is more even and it is easier to make thinner sheets. In Aklan three fibers are used for weaving: raffia (Corypha elata, buri palm), pina (Ananas comosus Merr.), and abaca (Musa textilis Nee). Raffia has very fine, thin fiber. There is much waste from the processing of fibers for weaving and they make fine papers when combined with more than 75% of the pina bastos fiber. I stayed in February 1993 with Jairus Lachica and helped him upgrade his production. He has an almost complete facility, including a three horse-power Naginata beater (Jairus #1), a five-ton hydraulic press, a cement wall, and marine plywood drying boards. After my stay, the following had changed: 1) he reduced his use of caustic soda for cooking the pina bastos fiber from 12% to 8%. Soon he will try a 5% NaOH solution for cooking the fiber. 2) he now has a rinsing basket, made from two layers of nylon net. 3) he now has a Cannabis Press envelope mold. 4) he has begun pigment dyeing using local materials: iron oxide (brown), coconut shell charcoal powder (grey), and yellow, green, blue, and white powders sold for cement coloring. Field Trip Mr. Vicente Baylon lives in Tina, Makato. He makes cards and some papers and studied with Jairus. Sooner or later Vicente will need a deep well as a back-up for town water. Electricity and reliable sources of water are necessary to keep his papermaking unit running. For him there is no shortage of available raw fibers. Another of the papermakers I met was Sister Mila Magadia of Our Lady of Providence in Balete town. The sisters make paper and herbal soap, and weave pina cloth. The place was started in 1981 and papermaking was introduced in 1991 under Sister Theresita's guidance. Sister Mila tried to make neri from local plants: one of them was derived from a leaf, but it was a brownish color. Another one was kapok. My first day there, I took a walk around the compound and I found a yellow flower along the rice paddy next to the pina plantation. It was near the entrance path to the convent, there to welcome visitors. It is wild tororo-aoi (locally called okra-okrahan), just what Sister Mila had been looking for. Conclusion Dorothy Field's report on India, Bangladesh, and the Himalayas, and Ajay Kumar's report on the handmade paper industry in India (both in Hand Papermaking, Winter 1992) suggest similar goals to Kami Philippines, Inc. Although there is no tradition of papermaking in the Philippines, many raw materials are available. Federations of papermakers are forming and government agencies are putting money toward developing hand papermaking in the country. What are needed now are a world market and serious research and development into what types of techniques are suitable for which type of paper. Philippine and Japanese government support may help, as would the participation of groups like the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). There are big companies now in the Philippines which are exporting paper converted items, but none yet which produce plain sheets for printing purposes: letterpress and printmaking. This is beginning, through the efforts of KPI in Aklan, but production is still a long way off.
