DOST promotes culture preservation in gong production thru science

July 6, 2018 Latest News

CITY OF BAGUIO – “Because of our desire to preserve the culture of gong fabrication in the country and in the region, we came up with this Gong Fabrication Project.”
This is what the Benguet Provincial Science and Technology Director Dr. Arnold Inumpa said during the Kapihan sa DOST-CAR on Monday, July 2, 2018.
On this gong fabrication, DOST-CAR incorporated science and technology to make the fabrication easier and faster.
“We have this gong fabrication long existing, but we fear that someday, when the current makers would have aged and stop fabricating, the younger ones would not like [to continue the culture of gong fabrication] when they see the hardships of their elders doing ‘pokpok’ more than a thousand times until the gong is formed and sold,” Inumpa said
He said that they wanted to mechanize the process of making gongs in the region but still not disregarding the manual and traditional way of making gongs in order to regulate the sound of the gong and with the concern of devaluing the essence of the gongs when the machine takes over, Inumpa iterated that the point of incorporating science and technology in the production of gongs is only facilitation.
“’Yong machine kasi ifo-form niya lang but the sound is different that’s why we still do the traditional way ‘pokpok’, because we must stick with the original sound, we will not sacrifice the quality of our gongs in terms of its sound.”
Meanwhile, according to DOST-Director Nancy Bantog, this project is a marriage of culture and science and technology innovation, she also mentioned that gongs are originally from Cordillera.
“There are only two projects that the DOST is supporting right now in terms of creative arts, the gong in the Cordillera and the other instrument from Marawi City,” she added.
The said project is expected to start on the third week of July right after the machine for gong production is delivered in Bedbed, Mankayan, Benguet. This is in partnership with the local government of Mankayan, funded by the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development-DOST and currently implemented by Metal Industry Research and Development Center-DOST and DOST-CAR. ROMELO DUPO III, UC INTERN