Monday, November 21, 2005
Tantangan: S. Cotabato pottery capital
TANTANGAN, South Cotabato -- This once odd rice-producing town is gaining a new reputation.
Just fifteen minutes drive away from Koronadal City, capital of South Cotabato, rows of clay pots and other products are lined up at the highway.
Flower pots, jars, cooking pots, "ihawan," and, of course, stoves fashioned out of clay are a sight to look at the roadside of Barangay San Felipe.
"This industry has been here for decades. Clay is abundant in the locality," said Mayor Salvador Lagos Jr., proudly announcing that his town has become the province's pottery capital of South Cotabato.
He noted that locals involved in transforming clay into pottery and other earthenware have been able to send their children to college.
Most of the locality's clay products found their way in the markets of this city, the neighboring towns in the province, and other parts of Central Mindanao region.
They are not quite expensive as some decorative lawn sets could be had for less than P500 only, if bought in the town.
The set, composed of four big jars and a huge pot that could hardly be embraced by a grownup man, has been seen at the compound of a homeowner here.
The four big jars are turned upside down and serve as seats while the huge pot was also turned upside down and serves as a center table.
Before the homeowner purchased the set, they simply looked brown, as is with the other earthenware produced in Tantangan town.
But by brushing the set with varnish, they became more attractive and glowed under the sun.
Flowerpots and stoves, in varying sizes, produced by the town fetch just several pesos each. For said products, the principle is this: the bigger the size, the higher the price.
Lagos said the local government has been promoting the clay earthenware as part of the municipality's identity.
From an outsider's view, the reason for this is obvious because the town seems to have nothing to offer to a tourist visiting or passing by the area except the clay handiwork.
Jong Mejia, a staff at the municipal planning and development office, said that 30 percent of the households in Barangay San Felipe rely on the earthenware industry for livelihood.
"I'm still small and people are already engaged on it," said Mejia.
Basically, Tantangan is an agriculturally rich town located at the northwest tip of the province.
Travelers passing through the Koronadal City-Tacurong City highway could not miss out the clay pieces, unless, of course, if they fell asleep during the journey.
Stoves displayed in the town have not been modified unlike those Air Kalan of the Coroņa couple, which, one of them by the way, admitted that their stoves are made from Tantangan. (RBS)
(November 21, 2005 issue)
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