ONE word was all it took to send me up the Museo Dabawenyo steps on a Thursday morning: Puppets. That it was "Puppets of the World" made the invitation even more enticing.
I first saw the post on Maan Chua's Facebook wall where she wrote: "I've seen his puppet collection there are hundreds and hundreds of them!!!!"
I have my own tiny collection of Asian puppets and I remember walking through the whole Chatuchak market in Bangkok just to look for an elephant puppet while my others friends were busy panicking over the clothes.
I found one, in the least peopled area, and I remember why I found it there. It was when I asked our guide where the puppets are in the market and the guide couldn't give me any direction, I thought, if someone who regularly takes visitors around isn't familiar with where the puppets are, then it should be in the area where there are very few people. I was right.
Anyway, my tiny collection is no match to the collection of Leonardo Rey Carino of General Santos City. His will surely send any puppet lover drooling. He can't recall when his puppet collection started, but what he is sure of is that once he started, he couldn't stop.
"It started as souvenirs I bought in my trips abroad," Carino said. But soon, he was prowling through eBay to search for rare ones. One of the hard to find puppets in the exhibit are the Gnafron and Madelaine hand puppets from France. It's the equivalent of Punch and Judy, he said, and is rarely up for sale.
He loves Asian puppets, but finds the African ones just as enticing. He has more at home. From all over the world. He did not bring any finger puppet, he said, because these are too small and he might lose some in the process.
Finger puppets as their name connotes are placed on each finger. Rod puppets or stick puppets are manipulated by sticks attached to the hands and body. The wayanggolek of Indonesia are stick puppets. A shadow puppet is also a rod puppet but it's flat because only its shadow is the one used to tell the story. Hand puppets are worn over the hand like a glove.
The muppets and Ernie and Bert in Sesame Street are hand puppets. A marionette is operated by strings, like Pinocchio. Water puppet is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. It is a unique variation to the ancient Asian puppet tradition.
While a vetriloquist's dummy is as big as half a regular adult and is controlled by the vetriloquist's hand. Carino said he did not bring a ventriloquist's dummy because it might scare the younger visitors.
A visit at Museo Dabawenyo for the Puppet of the World exhibit is something worthwhile, for nowhere else can you find such a collection. The show runs until February 14, 2017. Entrance is free.