Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar recently launched her book “My Journey in the Las Piñas Arts and Crafts Industry.”
The book is published by the Villar Foundation and features the lawmaker’s experience in crafting livelihood opportunities for her constituents through the revival of the salt-making tradition, developing the parol making, handloom weaving, water lily basket weaving, and others.
Villar spearheaded the revival of the local salt-making industry with the establishment of the Irasan Center through the assistance of experts from the Pangasinan State University.
A fish port was also constructed to provide fishermen a place to dock their boats and trade their catch.
Villar also promoted the parol-making industry in Las Piñas, which was introduced by Arsenio Aguilar in 1949, and who, at age 84 today, helps the magpaparols, who incidentally belong to the third generation lantern makers.
She recounted in her book how she was able to initiate handloom weaving in Las Piñas as another livelihood program for local women after seeing a group of women weaving leftover strips of cloth into dishrags during her house-to-house campaign when she first ran for Congress.
The congresswoman said she also helped save Las Piñas’ two major river systems by teaching people to make water hyacinths, which clogged the waterways’ flow to the sea, into mats, trays, slippers, and decorative items.
She dedicated her book to her husband, Sen. Manny Villar, who she said has always provided the vision in all their projects, and to her children, Paolo, Mark, and Camille.
The books were given to Las Piñas local officials, city hall department heads, public and private schools, public libraries, Las Piñas exporters and manufacturers, and other organizations.
“The book is about my voyage back in time to revive the traditions which used to sustain generations of Las Piñeros. It is also an environmental trip down our beloved Las Piñas and Zapote Rivers, where, in cleaning the waterways, we came up with novel solutions of turning garbage into gold,” she added.