March 29, 2024

LA PAZ, Abra – This town celebrated the Abel Festival to showcase the abel industry and its products which have been kept alive by the Lapazeños across generations.
The festival was highlighted by cultural performers donning colorful abel cloth designs from the different barangays during the street dancing competition.
 La Paz Mayor Menchie Bernos she said abel is La Paz’s One Town, One Product.
“We are eager to promote this product not just in the province but also in the whole country,” she said.
She said women in the town have their own weaving facilities in their houses so they and usually weave during their free time.
Their indigenous textiles are sold mostly through trade fairs.
The mayor added that local abel products have also been traded overseas and were showcased in fashion shows in New York, with some exhibitors and known designers coming to the town to purchase Abel fabrics for their designs.
The mayor added that abel weavers (agab-abel) of the municipality are encouraging the younger generation to practice and master the art of the loom weaving to keep the tradition and culture alive.
In Barangay Bulbulala, known to be the source of abel products such as clothes, blankets, pillowcases, polo shirts, scarves, table runners and placemats, children as young as eight years old are learning the skill.
Bernos said the local government is supporting the loom weaving communities of La Paz by sponsoring trainings for them and pushing them to join trade fairs in and outside the Cordillera. – Christian Tubadeza