Dukit Betis
• Woodcarving and wood sculpture
• Spanish-era religious images called malasantu, santo, rebultu
• Modern pieces of furniture
• Manlililok of Paete in Laguna, Ifugaos of the Cordillera
region, Maranos and Tausugs of Mindanao
• Mandukit of the old Betis district of Guagua
• Betis was one of the 11 most important towns at the
beginning of the Spanish period in Luzon alongside Lubao,
Macabebe, Sasmuan, Guagua, Bacolor, Apalit, Arayat,
Candaba, Porac, and Mexico
• Once a pueblo or town
• Fort
• Entreway
• Sta. Ursula is the village which produces most if not all of the
sculptured pieces and carved furniture
• Known before as Paglalabuan, as pell as “pulu”, “danuman”,
“sadsaran”, “an island”, “a water edge community,” and a “port”
• Local folks say that in the 1980s, pieces of old Chinese blue and white
porcelains were found at the bottom of the river
• Tsunami revealed the bottom of the river as it was drained
• The old folks in the are believe that their village is the oldest in the
tradition of pamandukit (woodcarving) and pamaganluagi (wood
working) in the Kapampangan province
• Home of the old dadaras (mandaras, the traditional bangka makers)
• Supplied most of the various Bangka (boats) in Pampanga and nearby
coastal and riverbank villages in Orani, Dinalupihan, Samal, Hermosa,
Abucay (which also produced this type of boats), all of Bataan,
Kalookan, Malabon, Navotas (especially in Sta. Cruz), Valenzuela, the
provinces of Rizal and Bulacam (Pamaraunan, Hagonoy, Binuangan),
Cavite, Batangas and as far a Mindoro
• Supply of logs and other timber materials flowed along the old Betis
river
• Atseru - baul suppliers (nmost likely derived from the Spanish term
hacha, an ax type tool used for logging)
• Mamaul – baul makers and loggers
• Philippine furniture absorbed artistic influences from different
cultured who made contacts with the islands
• 17th century pieces manifest touches of Chinese design
• Later 18th century pieces are known to have inlaid designs
• Paete – images of saints from native hardwoods
• Pakil – excquisite wood filigree
• Betis – furniture
• A contemporary influence of classical tradition of woodworking in
sculpture and furniture began to be felt in the 1950s brought about
by Juan Flores, a native of Sta. Ursula
• Born on the 9th September 1900
• He became a famous sculptor and furniture maker at a
young age
• He learned the crafts of carpentry and wood carving,
furniture making and sculpture, especially in the making of
malasantos
• He was so talented that his reputation grew in the national
art scene
Disappearing Gadgetry
UTENSILS
• Lubon – pack-basket
• A bamboo handicraft made and used by the Inarraro Negrito women
• Used to hold root crops gathered from the fields
• Tukil – bamboo tube of single node closed at the bottom and with a
wide opening on top big enough for the hands to pass
• Used to hold salt, arrows and feathers
UTENSILS
• Patolang – bamboo cooking utensil is called patolang by the
Kapampangan Negritos
• Sandok (ladle) is a blade-scooped utensil made of halved coconut
shell tied to a wooden handle. Coconut shells are also used as plates
and drinking vessels
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
• Bulung-udyong – musical instrument played in the evening
• Made out of special bamboo specie. It has five small holes, two on
one side and three on the other
• Tambuli – trumpet
• Used by the Negritos to make announcements
• Made of discardd carabao horn
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
• Tabung-tabung – drum
• A musical instrument that is used by the Negritos during their
religious activities
• A meter long drum used only in the ceremonies for the spirits
• Guitar – home-made guitar is used during religious rituals and social
gatherings although the lowland guitar is slowly taking the place of
the crudely home-made guitar
WEAPONS AND TRAPS
• Arrowshaft – provided the metal arrow points designed for different purposes
• Traps – a sizeable number of traps are still utilized by the Negritos
• Palantak – constructed out of dry bamboo which is split up the one internode
length
• Kasig-kasig – another device utilized by the Negritos
• Several pieces of dry and split bamboos of about one-half by five inches are
tied together by a nylon cord in a circular shape
TRIBAL ARROWS
• Binuran – an arrowpoint with large metal, for hunting pigs
• Bilacan – a trident-like point for shooting birds and bats. Note that
this arrowpoint is made from a bamboo known to the Inarraro
Negritos as baete
• Balangat – a trident-like point, used in shooting birds and bats. Note
that arrowpoint is made of steel
• Halapon – employed in shooting birds and bats. Note that the three
points are bound together at one common point
• Puhiw – used by the Inarraro Negritos in shooting Lamarin (wild cats)
TRIBAL ARROWS
• Biniling – extremely difficult to make, used and self-defense
• Dumpil – employed for fighting and for ceremonial purposes
• Hawil – for shooting wild cats
• Talumang – for shooting labuyo (wild chicken) and cats
Boats
• Boats – believed to have been built around 3500 BCE, when the
Egyptians developed carpentry skill for building plank waterpark and
perhaps used these for a sickle-shaped boat
• In Pampanga, it is within the vicinity of Candaba where the oldest
evidence of boatmaking was discovered (Daras Candaba). Is dated at
about 5000 years old, made of polished basalt stone of the Neolithic
Period
• In the Kapampangan Region, canoe-shaped boats called baluto and
balbaloto were made by carving out the inner portion of logs using
several types of daras (adze, sometimes called as surgamat or sarul
gamat pangbanka), gobia, lukub, pait (all chisel types), palakul and
palatio (axes), and balibol (native drill)
• Made out of hardwoods
• Boat-shaped coffins
• Bangkabaung
