The Philippines’ national living treasures take the spotlight in the new season of the documentary series Dayaw, with Senator Loren Legarda hosting on ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel.
The fourth season premiered last Thursday. Six new episodes that focus on our culture bearers, Filipinos who mastered their craft and devoted their entire lives to keep their traditions alive, serving as “sisidlan” or living vessels that bear the wealth of our tangible and intangible heritage are featured in the fourth season.
Legarda, National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ (NCCA) Dangal ng Haraya Patron of Arts and Culture, hopes to further inspire the Filipino audience to appreciate and love our own culture through this new season of the program.
“As I was going through my spiels for the show, I realized that all of us are also sisidlan. We are all vessels of heritage and cultural knowledge if only we appreciate, learn, and embrace our culture and make its preservation a part of our legacy to future Filipinos,” said Legarda.
In the first three episodes, Dayaw features recipients of the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) or the National Living Treasures Award, a distinction accorded by the Philippine government to the finest traditional artists of the land.
The documentary series features the lives and contributions of Maguindanao kudyapi virtuoso Samaon Sulaiman, Pala’wan musician and epic chanter Masino Intaray, Hanunuo Mangyan poet and master of syllabary Ginaw Bilog, T’boli master weaver Lang Dulay, Tagabawa Bagobo master weaver Salinta Monon, Tawi-Tawi mat weaver Haja Amina Appo, Tausug textile weaver Darhata Sawabi, all of whom have already passed on; as well as the remaining living GAMABA awardees—Kalinga musician and dancer Alonzo Saclag, Panay Bukidnon epic chanter Federico Caballero, Yakan musician Uwang Ahadas, Kapampangan metalsmith Eduardo Mutuc, Ilocano casque maker Teofilo Garcia, and Ilocano textile weaver Magdalena Gamayo.
The fourth episode explores men and women that have chosen to study, record, document, and teach these artistic traditions to a greater audience and continue to nurture and pass on the important knowledge and techniques to future generations.
The fifth episode takes us to various museums all over the Philippines – museums that act as vessels for our people’s intangible and tangible treasures.
The final episode of the season is entitled, “Rediscovering Traditions,” and as a season-ender, viewers will discover a pocket of culture that has survived and thrived amid the modern encroachment.
Dayaw is a project of Legarda in partnership with NCCA, the prime government arm dedicated to the promotion of Philippine arts and culture, and ANC, the country’s premier 24/7 all-English cable news channel.
Legarda said this partnership has strengthened through the years and has reaped good feedback for the series’ breathtaking visuals and its compelling storytelling.
“The synergy between the NCCA and ANC has enhanced through the years and this helps in making Dayaw more successful. The ANC team has imbibed the importance of these cultural treasures and the partnership with NCCA has really made Dayaw an effective tool to communicate to a wider audience. Dayaw is our gift to the Filipino people. It is our way of embracing our duty as ‘sisidlan’ or vessels of our heritage,” she said.
Dayaw airs on ANC with live streaming on