2017, January

In the small barangay of Lumbaan, this town, at least 25 farmers have seen a great opportunity to increase their income and at the same time to rekindle their sense of pride through reviving a dying cotton industry. Elders recall Lumbaan used to have cotton fields, an important raw material in the making of inabel loom-weaving products. But as tobacco industry grew robust in this part of Luzon, farmers shifted to tobacco farming, leaving behind cotton. Due to lack of raw materials, the local loom-weaving industry here also suffered almost a natural death until two years ago, Dr. Joven Cuanang, a well-known patron of the arts and neurologist who just retired as Medical Director of St. Luke’s Hospital, was able to convince some farmers to try cotton seeds as an alternative plant, next to staple crops such as rice, tobacco and vegetables.