Amazing handicrafts by Annabelle C. Riano
The secret art and talent of the first lady of Romblon
“Behind every successful man, there’s a woman,” so goes the saying. It could be the mother, the grandmother or even a daughter. It could be a female friend, a female teacher, a godmother or a spinster aunt. Those are among the general possibilities. In the particular case of Gov. Jose “Otik” Riano, my bet is confidently placed on his wife Annabelle.
But that’s not the topic of our present discussion. Our purpose here is to showcase some handcrafted items made by the new first lady of Romblon. Above is a sample of the ordinarily cheap and humble bayong turned by Mrs. Riano into an outstanding work of art — beautiful, classy and expensive. Per the information we gather from the Internet, something you can check yourself, a handcrafted item like this can fetch anywhere from P1000+ to P2000+ depending on the design and depending also on the country to which it is sold. It certainly deserves a place in Rustan’s and is of export quality, don’t you think so? Here are more samples of these glorified bayongs handcrafted by our first lady, each one a unique artistic expression:
While the first lady can earn a handsome income if she sells these items in the right market, many lucky Romblomanon women will get them for free comes December. For the governor and his wife will give them away as Christmas presents for lucky female employees of the Capitol. (However, some of her friends got wind of her giveaways and want to be among the recipients!)
Nor is this the first time she is doing this. She has been doing so for the past six years while her husband served as vice governor (2013-2019). Each year, she would choose a different product to give away. For this year, the choice of bayong as material is a reflection of the first lady’s awareness of current environmental concern regarding plastic pollution.
For male employees, they have to content themselves with Bluetooth speakers purchased by Mrs. Riano — untouched by the skill of her hands, although to be sent out with as much love and thoughtfulness from the first couple.
We can get a glimpse of Mrs. Riano’s work ethics, discipline and advanced planning if we consider that it’s only the first day of September today but she is already poised to ship the first couple’s Christmas giveaways to Romblon. (She handcrafted them at her husband’s Metro Manila office, turning it into her workshop while he was away.) She started producing and stockpiling the beautiful bayongs first week of July. By early August, she had crafted almost 300 of them. And before August ended, she had produced 450 pieces of these simple yet elegant items to be given away this coming December.
How will she distribute such a big number of gifts? It used to be that she only had to think about the few employees under the office of the vice governor. But the employees of the provincial government under the executive sway of the governor are far more in number, around 800 in all. Assuming the ratio between male and female employees are about equal, that means around 400 bayongs and 400 Bluetooth speakers would be given out.
In the past, when her husband was still vice governor and presiding officer of the provincial legislature, she could give out the tokens of Christmas thoughtfulness during the Christmas party of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan . But that is a tricky thing to do now considering the numerous employees of the Capitol, of the executive branch of the provincial government— it would simply be too time-consuming to hand out the gifts to recipients one by one. So she is thinking that perhaps, she could ask for the names of employees and distribute the Christmas giveaways department by department.
There’s a practical side and financial aspect to early preparation. “If it’s already Ber month, materials are already expensive, you can’t haggle anymore,” she explained. “Chinese traders wouldn’t give you a discount because they know you would buy anyway since it’s Christmas already … but if it’s just June, July or August, business is slow so they are more inclined to give you a discount.” (“Ber month” of course refers to September, October, November or December.)
Below are more samples of these simple bayongs transformed into classy bags. After you are through viewing them, I’ll make some off-the-cuff comments before we end our happy presentation, tehehe.
There. That’s mass production, pure and simple. I mean, it’s of commercial quantity even though handcrafted, yet the quality is there. That can tickle our minds to think of wondrous possibilities. What if …
Maybe the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) might get interested with this special talent of our first lady? I heard DOST trained and assists bayong makers in the islet of Alad, part of the capital town. As their respective names imply, DTI’s forte is trade and industry while that of TESDA is skills development. I would love to arrange a meeting among them if given the chance so we may see what they can do together!
The governor’s wife is a very private person, used to doing things in a private capacity as a family woman, businesswoman and philanthropist. She might hesitate to switch into a more public life which — I would gleefully argue — is what her status as the first lady of the province requires! That is why I am calling the attention of DOST, DTI, TESDA and anybody else out there who might find it fascinating to tap her skill, talent and capability for the sake of our province and our people. You know, they can help a lot in the matter of encouragement and reassurance as well as in pledging support and cooperation for some worthy projects that can be done together.
Now, producing value-added bayongs is not the only thing that Mrs. Riano can do. She is perfectly capable of producing other sellable or marketable items. She has done so in previous years. The first lady herself has been contemplating together with Atty. Lizette Mortel, the provincial administrator, whether or not to produce some products then sell them and donate the proceeds for some worthy cause in Romblon.
I also found out recently that there are four Ayala Foundation personnel roaming around in our province, giving out laptops to some selected schools. I met one of them one morning at the beach of Odiongan and she told me about their experience in another province where they helped a community sell their local products by offering them for sale in various Ayala malls and establishments. Maybe our province can establish a robust and dynamic partnership with the Ayala Foundation one of these days?
This reminds me of the shining example of Negros Occidental in the field of livelihood and entrepreneurship. Moved by the news of poverty in their home province, Manila-based Negrenses organized the First Negros Trade Fair in Makati in 1985 at the behest of Bea Zobel of Ayala Land. Since then, it became the longest-running provincial trade fair in the country. Eventually, they were able to form a corps of craftsmen and entrepreneurs who produced items not only for domestic sale but also for export. Daniel “Bitay” Lacson of Negros Navigation (who later became governor) played a vital role in this outstanding achievement.
Negros Occidental earned such renown that when Fidel V. Ramos took over the presidency (1992–1998), he tapped Lacson and the Association of Negros Producers (ANP) to replicate their success story among the so-called Club 20 provinces – that is to say, the twenty Philippine provinces identified at that time as the poorest in the country. Romblon was one of them and that was how I and a few other Romblomanons were able to join an entrepreneurship seminar in Goldenfield Hotel in Bacolod and a trade fair in SM MegaMall in Mandaluyong.
Can our beloved province of Romblon also achieve something as outstanding and as phenomenal as what Negros Occidental has done?
There are wonderful and exciting possibilities for Romblon province with an artistic, business-smart and philanthropic first lady like the one we have at present. But there’s one thing that might hamper or curtail these happy prospects — the entry of her husband into Romblon politics had left her chiefly responsible for managing their family business, although he still intervenes if and when there is something to troubleshoot.
Well, let us see what to see. Anything is possible. She has after all demonstrated her ability to be orderly and systematic in what she is doing. And she can move quickly and work very fast! So who knows if she might be able to put things in their proper places, then team up with Atty. Lizette and other talented people around — say, to establish a foundation for the benefit of Romblomanons or to form our own corps of producers and exporters?
