AMID the rhythmic clacking of wooden handlooms in a bustling workshop in this Aklan town, Elizabeth Rasonable is weaving more than just delicate textiles. She is weaving a legacy.
Her journey from a struggling artisan to a community leader underscores the immense potential of the Philippines’ indigenous fibers to conquer global markets. It is a success story woven not by a single thread, but by an intricate tapestry of personal grit and timely government intervention.
Rasonable dedicated her life to the art of piña (pineapple) weaving, a centuries-old craft indigenous to the Philippines that involves extracting, processing and weaving fibers from pineapple leaves. The result is a sheer, stiff and elegant fabric often called the “Queen of Philippine Fabrics,” historically worn by the elite and used for the formal Barong Tagalog.
Rasonable learned the meticulous craft in just two months through sheer determination. While her husband built her first loom, the path to financial stability was fraught with challenges. High raw material costs and low buying prices from middlemen often meant her labor yielded little profit.
The industry faced a near-fatal blow in 2013 when Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) devastated Aklan’s piña plantations, wiping out the source of the precious fiber.
It was during this critical period that the government stepped in through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP). The program launched a comprehensive rehabilitation drive, organizing training sessions for weavers across Aklan’s municipalities to revive the traditional craft.
“Change came when the Sustainable Livelihood Program reached our community,” Rasonable recalled, sharing her journey with the Philippine Information Agency.
She became an active participant in a three-day SLP piña weaving training in 2015. The program provided not just skills upgrading but essential starter kits containing looms, basic materials and fibers. This intervention was the lifeline that allowed artisans to rebuild their livelihoods from the ground up.
Beyond the training, the SLP empowered Rasonable to take on a larger role in the supply chain. She began providing quality weaving equipment, warping tools and knotted fibers for subsequent SLP trainings in the towns of Makato, Tangalan, Libacao and Banga.
By ensuring fair prices for piña cloth and affordable raw materials, she helped close the chronic gap between production cost and income that had plagued weavers for decades.
Capitalizing on this momentum, Rasonable formalized her enterprise, securing permits from local government units, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue. These credentials legitimized her business, allowing her to penetrate larger markets.
Today, she supplies 300 to 400 yards of piña-seda (pineapple-silk blend) cloth weekly to buyers in Aklan, Iloilo, Capiz and Manila. She has expanded beyond selling fabric to producing Barong Tagalog garments stitched with her own designs, showcasing the versatility and modern appeal of the traditional fabric.
Her business thrived even during the Covid-19 pandemic, proving the resilience of the local fiber industry. With weaving being a home-based craft, her enterprise provided a crucial economic lifeline for her neighbors during lockdowns.
Currently, Rasonable supports over 100 weavers across four Aklan municipalities. Her husband and children manage the family’s expanded ventures, which now include a furniture business producing wooden looms for other artisans.
“I just want to support the weavers,” Rasonable said, emphasizing the need for community upliftment over competition. “I learned to help fellow weavers not just to survive but to lift them, too. We have to avoid a crab mentality.”
Her dedication was recently recognized at the 26th Piña and Fiber Festival, where she received an award for her contribution to preserving, promoting and innovating the Aklan piña weaving tradition.
From a simple desire to help her family, Rasonable has become a pillar of the Aklan weaving industry. Her story serves as a blueprint for how government support, paired with local ingenuity, can turn indigenous traditions into threads of progress that bind a community together. PIA
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Empowering communities through the DSWD Sustainable Livelihood Program
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) is a flagship poverty-reduction initiative of the Philippine government designed to help poor, vulnerable and marginalized families achieve long-term economic stability. Rather than providing short-term relief alone, the SLP focuses on equipping beneficiaries with the skills, resources and opportunities they need to build sustainable sources of income.
At its core, the program recognizes that poverty is multidimensional. Many families lack not only capital but also access to training, markets and employment networks.
To address this, the SLP operates through two main tracks: the Microenterprise Development (MD) track and the Employment Facilitation (EF) track.
The MD track supports individuals or groups who want to start or expand small businesses by providing seed capital, skills training and mentoring. Meanwhile, the EF track assists jobseekers through skills enhancement, preemployment requirements and linkage to local employers.
What sets the SLP apart is its community-based and participatory approach.
Beneficiaries are organized into associations, cooperatives or self-help groups, fostering collective responsibility and peer support. This structure not only strengthens livelihoods but also builds social capital, encouraging cooperation and resilience within communities.
The program also aligns with local government units, private sector partners and civil society organizations to ensure that livelihood projects are relevant to local market demands. Whether supporting food processing, agriculture, services or wage employment, the SLP emphasizes sustainability and adaptability.
Ultimately, the DSWD Sustainable Livelihood Program is designed to break the cycle of poverty by promoting self-reliance and dignity. By investing in people’s capabilities rather than offering one-time assistance, the program empowers families to take control of their economic future and contributes to inclusive growth at the community and national levels.