Maguindanao Inaul Festival kicks off with mountain bike challenge

MAGUINDANAO --- The first ever provincial Inaul Festival reeled off Sunday with organizers markedly optimistic it will keep alive a fabric ethnic Maguindanaons have been patronizing for centuries.Inaul weaving is an indigenous craft the Maguindanao provincial government is trying to preserve and give a boost through technical and marketing interventions.The colorful Inaul cloth hit the news when it was featured by designers in a Mindanao-themed Miss Universe fashion show in Davao City in January.The February 5-14 activity commenced on Sunday with a mountain bike challenge in Maguindanao’s capital town, Buluan, among 456 sportsmen from across Mindanao. The biking competition gave bikers from the four corners of Mindanao a chance to feel the peace we now have in the province, Gov. Esmael Mangudatu said on Sunday.The 10-day Inaul Festival involves the local government units in the 36 towns in Maguindanao, a component province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.Mangudadatu said the festival shall include cultural programs such as Sagayan and traditional street dancing events and an Inaul loom-weaving contest. We are expecting local and foreign dignitaries to come over and witness the activities related to our cultures and traditions, Mangudadatu said.The province has been having a Sagayan Festival every February since 2011 that featured only common cultural shows and a Sagayan dance contest.The Maguindanaon Sagayan war dance dramatically depicts the bravery and preparedness of the tribe to defend community honor, territory and religion.Officials renamed this year’s supposed Sagayan event to Inaul Festival to highlight the fabric Maguindanaons have been weaving using traditional wooden looms for generations.The reformatted festival will showcase the Inaul fabric, a strong identity icon of the ethnic Maguindanaon community.The Maguindanaons are also known as central Mindanao’s people of the flooded plains, or the Moro communities along the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta. We are optimistic our first ever Inaul Festival will boost our efforts to show to local and international fashion designers our traditional fabric that can be used for attires for special occasions, Mangudadatu said.Mangudadatu said he is thankful to the police and the military for guarding Buluan town since Saturday to ensure the safety of the Inaul Festival.Authorities cordoned Buluan town on Saturday as part of the security preparations for the February 5-14 event.Senior Supt. Agustin Tello, police director of Maguindanao, said they have deployed a security contingent in the town proper and outskirts of Buluan as part of an effort to ward off saboteurs.