FEATURE: Weaving the way to prosperity

CEBU, Philippines - Life was hard on her, but she persevered, worked her way up and along the way made one of Argao's success stories. Lauriana “Auring” Olaguir was from a family in Argao town who lived from hand to mouth. But poverty pushed her to work harder by selling just about anything at 10 years old instead of playing like what other children her age were doing just so she could help her family. Today, Auring, 61, is a mother of four professionals and an owner of one of Argao's backyard weaving factories.

“Lisud uy kay mao ray trabaho sa akong mama. Ako'ng mga katigulangan sa una pobre pud. So naning kamot sad gyud kay matud pa sa Bibliya: ‘Lihok tawo kay ikaw tabangan.’ Ug di ka molihok, way mahitabo nimo uy,” Auring said.

Auring's mother was a weaver or hablonera in Argao - a southern town in Cebu - a job she also learned to do while still in grade school. In between helping her mother weave, she would be seen selling budbod and bibingka in the public market to earn a few more cents, which would later on be used to buy food for the family. She was the youngest of six children, and all of them crammed in a small nipa hut.

In 1968, already a master in sales talking, Auring, then 16, instead of attending high school, started trading the family's finished products to Davao. At this time, her older sister Dionisia “Odik,” was helping their mother make towels, blankets and bathrobes, which Auring brought to Davao to sell. She said most of her customers were workers of a biscuit factory who would pay her every Saturday. So, if she went to Davao on a weekday, she would be back in Cebu after everyone had paid off their dues to her on Saturday, then be back in Davao again with a fresh batch of supplies. It was the situation for so many months until she was hired as a worker of the said factory. When she got the work, instead of going back and forth in Cebu, her sister Odik would just send the products to her in Davao.

Then her workmates started ordering pants from her, prompting Auring to hire a tailor. It was at this time when she met Carlos, who would soon become her husband.

The two got married in Argao but decided to go back to Davao where they stayed for nine years. They soon had to come home to Cebu for good when Auring's mother got sick and asked that they should be near her before she would leave the world.

Auring shared they had to start again in Argao. With already one child in the family, Auring and Carlos put up a small convenience store at the public market so they could have a steady stream of income. The store went bankrupt, however, that Auring decided to focus on weaving, on her own. She said her life was full of highs and lows, and for someone who came from the lows, she was already used to it. “Naa gyuy panahon nga mura'g mawad-an ka'g gana, pero di gyud ka magpada kay molabay ra man pud na,” she said.

So, she became a full-time weaver, set up her little weaving machine under their small house where she stayed most of the day to get her work done. Back then the abaca textile-a raw material for Barong Tagalog - was Auring's bestselling product. What little she got from weaving she used to feed her family and send her small children to school. Luckily, she was able to introduce new designs (polyhemp and custom-made blankets, towels among others), which augmented her income, and soon after orders became frequent.

In 2000, using her share of the sale of a family-owned lot, Auring built a raised nipa hut next to their house, which became her weaving factory. The hut, which is still being used today, can accommodate around 20 people working at the same time. Auring said countless of women, who worked in her small factory, were able to send their children to college. “Wa na sila diri ron kay suportado naman sila sa ilang mga anak,” she said. Juana Remando, one Auring's workers, started as a hablonera eight years ago. She does polyhemp and abaca products, and earns an average of P100 per day from weaving. Juana's daughter,Maricel Luna, 22, is also Auring's employee. Maricel said if they have many orders, her earnings could double or triple in a day. Auring said their regular customers are Chinese merchants from Mandaue City, who buy and convert their finished products into barong tagalogs and other clothing, or export them to other countries.

Auring said she was glad that her small business was doing well, as she was able to send her four children to college. “Kung wa ning hablon, di ko makapa-eskwela nila," she said. Her eldest and second child, Carlito and Anthony, finished a course in Hotel and Restaurant Services Technology (HRST). Anthony, 31, is now working in Brunei. Her only daughter, Richel, is a graduate of Information Technology and is now employed in Taiwan. Her youngest, Louie, 22, is a graduate of nautical engineering.

With blessings pouring in their direction, Auring and Carlos opened an eatery business, transformed their old nipa hut into a bungalow house and bought some properties and livestock in Argao. It was not, however, all easy for Auring, because in 2006, Carlos, who was the front-liner of the family's eatery business, suffered a heart attack, which left him partially paralyzed. Auring said it happened around the time when one of their children was finishing college and the other two were still in school. But she said she managed to get passed through that part, albeit on her own. When all of her children finished their college degrees, it was like a payback time for family. Auring said she considered it a blessing that she does not have to ask her children to support their father's medical needs.

"Makaingon ko nga naagian na nako tanang kalisud. Dili ko haruhay ron, pero mura nalang na kaginhawa sa kalisud," she said.

Auring's factory in SitioCancainap, Barangay Tulic is now one ofArgao's tourism destinations. At the ground floor of this hut,Auring is still regularly seen in her wooden chair weaving what would later become an abaca textile or a customized towel, with her husband Carlos watching her from the stairs nearby. On some days, Auring said they would just sit in a bamboo chair upstairs while enjoying the cool breeze. Her own house, at the back of the factory, is equipped with air-conditioning units, but Auring said she still prefers the natural breeze. Auring shared she did not wish to become rich, if she has such dream, it is for her own children. "Tiguwang nako, kung naa ko'y ambition para nalang nila," she said. And to all those whose ambitions have yet to be realized, Auring advised they should work hard, or harder still until they reach what they want. "Molihok gyud ka. Kung maghulat ra ka pareha sa gisulti sa Bibliya unsaon nimo pag-asenso kung naglingkod ra ka?" she said. (FREEMAN)