00:00As the saying goes, keep your skeleton in the closet.
00:06But the story of these furniture needs to be analyzed.
00:13These furniture are worth hundreds of thousands of pesos just because of the bones?
00:24This tea cart is worth 30,000 pesos.
00:28This table set is worth 220,000 pesos.
00:36And this dining table is worth more than half a million pesos.
00:46Ernesto has been taking care of these furniture in the ancestral house in Bulacan for almost 10 decades.
00:56These furniture are the reason why they are still alive.
01:01The furniture that is worth a million pesos is the antique altar table.
01:08But if the reproduction is possible, 50,000 pesos to 150,000 pesos.
01:13It depends on the design of the altar table.
01:15In Nara, there are 300,000 pesos.
01:18Their great-grandfather, Silvestre, was the one who started this art in Baliwag.
01:26And to make it more designable, they came up with the idea of using the skull of a calabash.
01:34Here in the Philippines, the big bones that we get, and we often get legal bones,
01:42is the skull of a calabash.
01:47We get it from the slaughterhouse of calabash.
01:52This is called embute or inlay.
01:56This alpahol or white design is unique because it does not age and crumbles.
02:04I will put it on the furniture.
02:06That is why Ernesto continues this cultural and vibrant life.
02:12In fact, they are regularly invited to cultural trade fairs.
02:17But when Ernesto grew up, one of the pillars of their life was the 60-year-old Philip.
02:25This embute is rare.
02:29I inherited this from my parents.
02:32Now, this is a product of the Philippines.
02:36It's like it's gone.
02:38We just live with it.
02:40Our furniture has been replaced with plastic or wood.
02:45Philip started embute in Baliwag when he was 14 years old.
02:49Even though he currently lives in Pampanga, he continues embute
02:55because what he does now is not enough for the number of fingers.
02:58According to the curator of the Museum of Baliwag,
03:01we have a lot of different programs and strategies
03:05to ensure that the traditional art of embute does not die.
03:11At the same time, those who have embute.
03:15What I earn from embute or inlay is P16,000.
03:21For example, we will make an altar table.
03:24First, I will put the pattern.
03:27After that, I will put the straight line.
03:33This is a part of the ribs of the calabaw.
03:37I use this because it has a part that can be folded.
03:42The calabaw seeds are only lucky to be available in the market.
03:46That's why Philip is embuting them.
03:49The calabaw seeds are only lucky to be available in the market.
03:53That's why Philip is embuting them.
03:55This is our calabaw.
03:59This is what I earn.
04:07Philip's own work is the machine for making alpahol.
04:11The calabaw seeds are passed through the sieve one by one
04:15and thinned four times.
04:18Philip thinks that the measurement should be one so that the seeds will not be wasted.
04:22When it is thin, it will be transferred to shaping.
04:25The seeds will be cut manually and placed in a wooden pattern.
04:30The pattern is also his own work.
04:33The special design is already used by the machine.
04:39But the manual work is still the same.
04:42Alpahol or diamond shape is the most commonly used in embuting.
04:49Even if the process takes a long time, it is said that it is beautiful right from the seeds.
04:56The 1940s was the time when embuting was first introduced in Baliwag.
05:02If we go back in history,
05:04we can see the furniture with embuts in big and wealthy houses.
05:10That's why it became a status symbol.
05:12The government of Baliwag is also trying to preserve some of the furniture in their museum
05:19and continue to revive embuting in their province.
05:41Music
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