Gazini Ganados wore hablon skirt in Miss U pageant

Beauty queens Gazini Ganados (left) and Michelle Dee wore hablon skirt and top made by Ilonggo designers James Roa and Nono Palmos. (Photos from Instagram accounts of Mark Caceres and Michelle Dee)

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

The “hablon” fabric of Miagao, Iloilo was in the spotlight once more after two beauty queens wore creations of top Ilonggo designers.

Miss Universe Philippines Gazini Ganados, who reached the top 20 of the 2019 Miss Universe pageant, wore a hablon skirt by Ilonggo designer James Roa in one of her pictorials.

Miagao tourism officer Anthony Selorio said Roa personally visited one of the weavers in Miagao to check the fabric.

Nagkadto diri sa isa ka weaver si James Roa and in one of the pictorials of Gazini ang ginsuksok niya is made of Hablon,” Selorio said in a phone interview on Monday.

Miss World Philippines Michelle Dee also wore a hablon top by another Ilonggo designer Nono Palmos during her closed-door interview for the Miss World pageant recently.

 

Selorio said hablon being showcased in the international scene is a huge promotion of their product and their town.

Nakakaproud nga ang ginsuksok sang aton Miss Universe and Miss World locally made by the Miagawanons and dako gid ni nga promotion sa aton hablon kag para sa aton mga weavers. We are so thankful and proud,” he said.

Selorio said the hablon weavers in Miagao took pride in their creations following its exposure in the global stage.

Naboost gid ang ego nila and maskin bala nga makapoy man tuod maghabol sang isa ka hablon siyempre nakakaproud kay ang nagamit sini indi lang local but subong international na,” he said.

The hablon worn by the two beauty queens were made by members of the Miagao Weavers Association.

According to Selorio, the group only started with 49 members then ballooned to 369.

“As of today, the association has a total of 369 weavers wala pa na madala dira ang mga bag-o natrain namon,” he said.

The association is comprised of seven weaving centers covering 18 barangays in the town of Miag-ao, Selorio added.

Recently, the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Textile Research institute opened to the public the P42-million Regional Yarn Production and Innovation Center’ (RYPIC) at the Iloilo Science and Technology University (ISAT U) in Miagao Campus.

With the grants and efforts of the local government and other government institutions to boost the weaving industry of the town, Selorio said the market and the demand for hablon is getting bigger and bigger.

Sa subong gadamo nga gadamo ang weavers actually kag madugang pa kami sang another weaving center and blessing man sa amon nga gasululod ang mga orders from huge companies in Manila and Iloilo,” he said.

Selorio said their focus now is to ensure that they produce the most intricate and the highest quality of hablon products despite the challenge of sustaining the product and the market.

Amo na ginahalongan namon ang subong nga market nga dapat masustain namon indi lang mamaintain. But we are not just on the quantity but more on the quality sang amon product because we are claiming that we are best producers of hablon products not only in this region but in the whole county and sa pagsuksok ni Gazini maybe even global,” he said.