Joseph Aloysius Montelibano comes back on a journey to save a Filipino heritage. When he stumbled upon the Tnalak fabric and everything flashed back. It brought him back to the past and a path to the future. A path to rekindle, realign, and reconnect with his advocacy. A choice to go on with a mission or ignore it. If he accepts the mission it will save an entire heritage. Going the other way it all disappears forever.

It All Caught Up

Boracay was a perfect place to get away from it all. A peaceful escape away from the demands of high fashion. It is exactly where Montelibano stayed in 2022 until it all caught up.

One day an unbearable pain in his leg won’t go away. The unhealthy lifestyle he had all caught up in that pain. When a trauma doctor took a look at it. He immediately suggested cutting it off. The fashion designer was devastated, it became his lowest point in this life.

He goes back to the hospital with no choice. Accepting this fate, a specialized doctor intervened. The doctor diagnosed it as a bone marrow infection osteomyelitis. All it needed was cleansing. A medical removal of all the rot that’s eating the leg away.

A Memory of The Past

Grateful to be whole again he thought his life needed cleansing too. He went to his working studio to clean up and reorganize. That’s when he saw the Tnalak fabrics again in all that mess. It’s calling him to the past and paving a path to the future.

The indigenous fabric brought him back to 2015 in South Cotabato. It was the death of the godmother of dreamweaving. The T’boli Tribe of Lake Sebu mourns the godmother Lang Dulay. Montelibano suggests a London show entitled “Dulay Dreams” to honor this great person. Instead of praise government representatives furiously rejected it.

The officials found it pointless to waste resources on someone who is gone. A scene that the grieving daughters of Dulay saw. A moment when Montelibano walked away from Lake Sebu.

His Heart Touched

The fabrics led him to go back to Lake Sebu. After 10 long years, his heart broke. Last year, he saw all the native houses of the T’boli Tribe gone. All he saw was an unfinished metal structure. An undefined purpose, is it supposed to be a weaving center or a replacement home?

The T’boli Tribe deserves better. Joseph Aloysius went back to his work studio. There he touched the Tnalak fabrics to create again. He made 12 pieces to remember Lang Dulay. These pieces could be the only legacy left of her.

The collection of these pieces will start its journey in Makati City. A city where Montelibano left his heart during the pandemic. It is at The Ministry that the “At Your Fingertips” exhibit was displayed on February 8.

A perfect place where he can start his advocacy mission for the T’boli heritage. A place to reconnect with friends and former acquaintances in that creative circle. The circle where he can share his newfound spark and share it with his friends.

A point to start over as Joseph Aloysius, the fashion artist. “The collection began as I was starting my healing journey. After a medical crisis in my life. These past three years. The way I had to come back and bounce back. [This] was to make sure that my hands started creating again. And so, I went back to my roots. Which is working with the Tnalak fabric of the T’boli people in Lake Sebu in South Cotabato. As I started manipulating and feeling it again. I got inspired, once again to go back to work. And create a collection that will reflect its origins and the current times,” he shares his thoughts.

The World Needs to See

The collection tours domestically and globally. Carrying an important piece of Filipino heritage. Saving this piece from the rotten system of this country. A system that is eating away at Filipino history.

Filipinos need to see these fabrics. When Filipinos dream of what it was like in the past. This exhibit weaves the past and the future of Filipino heritage.

The fashion artist tells its importance, “These pieces. This exhibition campaigns for global community unity around the world. Cultural understanding is the major theme of this exhibition. Speaking about the community-based indigenous fabrics. We get to relay messages of community building, peacekeeping, and cultural importance in the country.”

His advocacy for cultural heritage continues as a fashion artist. He restarts his mission where he left off. For two decades he has been an avid advocate for Filipino textiles as a designer.

Now he comes back with a mission as a fashion artist. A mission where the world bears witness to the unique T’boli weaving. He complements this idea with Aloysius Worldwide Tours.

The tour will launch in June 2026. A program dedicated to cultural education and immersive travel experience. This strengthens the cross-cultural awareness among global communities. A pathway to save cultural heritage not only in the Philippines but around the world.

Distinguished Dressed Guests