COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Efforts to advertise the Maguindanaon “inaul” cloth got a boost with the award won by a male model who wore the handmade fabric during the September 5 Filipino attire contest in the 26th Philippine Travel Mart.
Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Tuesday said 18-year-old model Abdullah Bederi Mali had done enough in educating Filipinos on the beauty of the inaul cloth.
Mali, who is from Tawi-Tawi, had won the third place in the Patimpalak ng Kasuotang Pilipino, one of the highlights of the travel mart.
The contest was held at the SMX Convention Center of the Mall of Asia in Pasay City. ARMM entries to the contest in the last two years also had bagged awards.
The production of the ethnic Maguindanaon inaul cloth is a centuries-old craft of the Maguindanao group in Central Mindanao.
ARMM’s coordinator for the contest, Mustapha Ala Jr., on Tuesday said credit has to go the region’s chief executive, Gov. Mujiv Hataman, for helping facilitate Mali’s participation to the contest.
The Hataman administration has various ongoing programs meant to showcase the ethnicity of ARMM's ethno-linguistic groups.
The ARMM compound in Cotabato City presently has Yakan, Tausug, Samah, Iranun, Maranaw and Maguindanao model villages, frequented by guests and local tourists attracted by periodic cultural shows depicting the customs and traditions of dwellers.
Ala, a senior staff of the ARMM’s Office of the Regional Governor in Cotabato City, said the clothes Mali wore were designed by Saidali Abdillah Jr., who is also from Tawi-Tawi.
Fashion designers in Cotabato City, among them the popular Wilfred Yee and Pepe Quitco, were elated with the feat, which for them showed to people in other parts of the country the beauty of the inaul cloth.