Haja Amina Appi is a National Living Treasure from the Sama Bajau indigenous group from Ungos, Matata Tawi-Tawi, Mindanao. She shows her expertise through the art of weaving wherein she was credited for her creative and colorful pandan mats.

• Her colorful mats with their complex geometric patterns exhibit her precise sense of design, proportion and symmetry and sensitivity to color, protected by a plain white outer mat that serves as the mat’s backing. 

• Bottom layer/lapis: a simple, coarser mat made of thick, uncolored straw, providing sturdiness. 

• Top layer: a more intricate, woven from brilliantly colored straws, which display the vibrant patterns and designs characteristic of these mats.

Sama people can be found dispersed in many areas of Mindanao, such as in Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Samal. There they have occupied the island since time immemorial, but they used to live in ancient houses called the tambobong. Although being in recognition, the tribe still lacks citizenship and proper access to social services that hinders them from gaining proper development due to the limited resources their isolation from modernization cases, especially affecting their livelihoods and culture that are rooted on fishing and traditional practices. Their integration of cultural identity through craftsmanship also becomes dominated by more known and stable ethnic groups given their nomadic lifestyles.

With the establishment of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997, it helps address these challenges by granting them legal recognition and protecting their ancestral domains, preventing displacement caused by reclamation projects or encroachment. Additionally, UNHCR and UNICEF pushes through more progressive actions towards fully registering the people of the Sama group with birth certificates, rendering them basic access to facilities that allow them to cope up with the change of the times and improve their literacy in further preserving their community.