Mat weavers

Women weave mats (‘banig’ in the vernacular) made from ‘tikog’ (rush) they then sell to visitors of Saob Cave in Basey, Samar. Basey is one of the oldest settlements in the country, and the town’s weavers—‘paraglara’ in the local dialect’—are often visited by tourists for their colorful straw mats, which they weave in the coolness and shade of the town’s caves. Mel Caspe