The province of Bulacan is known as the origin or home of the Pastillas De Leche. This chewy soft milk candy is made from fresh carabao milk and sugar-dusted sweet and it is considered one of Filipinos’ favorite delicacies. According to Artes De Las Filipinas, the first Pastillas Festival was celebrated in San Miguel, Bulacan on May 5-7, 2006; to highlight the importance of Pastillas in the lives of its locals. In the same article, Mapanoo (n.d.) cited Mayor Edmundo Jose Buencamino’s statement that pastillas became a symbol and source of pride for the people of Bulacan as they offer these sweets to their families and loved ones on special occasions such as birthdays and wedding celebrations.

Fiestas in Bulacan are not considered complete without the decorations or souvenirs created from intricate papercut designs. These handmade paper cuts are also evident in making their pastillas wrappers or the pabalat. Pabalat is derived from the Tagalog word “balat” which means “skin” (Alejandrino, 2021). It is called Pastillas’ Pabalat since it serves as the skin of the pastillas product. This unique delicacy packaging uses papel de japon or Japanese paper as the main canvas for the hand-cut artistic patterns at the end of the strips, leaving a small space that nestles the pastillas itself. The craft of the pabalat packaging can be decorative and functional (Chin and Gan, 2022).  

This craft was pioneered by the late Luz Ocampo, who spent over 70 years nurturing it. According to Lopez (2015) in Inquirer’s interview with the artisan, she started taking an interest in paper-cutting back in her younger days when pabalat making was part of their academic curriculum, she has also improved her skills by helping her mother, Adelaida Villasenor, in cutting wrappers during her after-school leisure time. Lopez also stated that Ocampo’s mother, Villasenor, was known for sweetened products, especially pastillas, in their home village in San Vicente, Bulacan.