This Magindanao malong was made in the 1st quarter of the 20th century.

Its design is called Lipong, and has a 17 thread count per single motif.

This type of weaving is known as Binaludan (Magindanao for tie-dye).

Lourdes Veloso Mastura was born on the Pacific side of Leyte and comes from a large Visayan clan. She attended St Theresas in Cebu (high school and college) and Ateneo de Manila (graduate studies), and taught at her alma matter in Cebu.

How did she end up in Magindanao? She was going to the US along with some girlfriends when her aunt, who was the college dean at Notre Dame, Cotobato, convinced her to come to Cotobato. While teaching at Notre Dame, Lourdes met her husband: Michael Mastura, a law professor at the same institution.

Michael, academician, historian, statesman, and lawyer, comes from Magindanao royalty—he is the great-great grandson of Sultan Muhamad Dipatwan Kudarat—one of the most charismatic figures in Mindanao history.

In 1987 Lourdes established a weaving center in Cotobato. There has really never been lasting peace in Cotobato, and ‘87 was a year of many skirmishes—evacuees from farms fled to the cities. Most refugees were not skilled. When asked what they did the common responses were farmers and weavers. WEAVERS—this gave Lourdes the idea to start a livelihood project to help the women (most couldn’t afford milk and fed their babies tea and sugar).

At first, Lourdes provided the thread and looms—the looms were in weavers’ houses and this posed a few problems as houses were small and fabrics were prone to damage. With donated funds a building was erected where most of the looms could be housed, and the materials and fabrics were secured at night.

Starting with 20 weavers, the center now has around 80. The women have been able to make money to build better homes and to send their children to school! But, what Lourdes pointed out as most important is that the women have gained confidence in themselves.