THE Department of Science and Technology-Cordillera Administrative Region (DOST-CAR) in partnership with the local government unit (LGU) of Mankayan in Bedbed will ensure the preservation and sustainability of gong fabrication.
The gong fabrication project started in February financed by DOST and implemented by the Metal Industry Research and Development Center (MIRTC)-DOST in cooperation with Mankayan and barangay Bedbed.
“In our desire to preserve the culture of the gong fabrication in the country and in the region, we had this kind of project. We fear that someday when these current makers would age and they stop fabricating, the younger ones would not like to continue because they see the hardships in making gong with thousands of hammering just to form a gong, until being completed and sold,” Dr. Arnold Inumpa, DOST Benguet provincial director said.
Inumpa said the gong production will be mechanized but will also retain the traditional process in making gongs that will ensure the sustainability of gong production.
“So that these young people would take over, we decided to introduce science and technology. In here, we wanted to make a nice production of gong in the region,” Inumpa added.
Gong making in Bedbed is one of the only two projects the DOST is supporting in terms of creative arts.
Dr. Nancy Bantog, DOST–CAR director said the project is a marriage of culture and science and technology innovation.
“We will not sacrifice the quality of the sound of the gong. In the whole process of improving the gong production, they will study on what is the extent of mechanization in forming, but in the tuning process, it is where the culture will come in,” Bantog added. (Fiona Felicitas/MMSU intern)