WOOD carving is an art that has been passed on from one generation to the next in the family of actor Leandro Baldemor. For 12 years now, Baldemor has been earning a living, aside from acting, through his Paete Handicrafts in Laguna.
His paternal grandfather, Venerando Baldemor, started doing wooden slippers or bakya and even exported them to Japan.
“Siya ang nag-umpisang mag-export sa Paete,” Baldemor proudly said of his grandfather in a phone interview with ABS-CBN News.
Meanwhile, his father, Wallie Baldemor, has a handicrafts business also in Laguna. Painter-sculptor Manuel Baldemor is his cousin.
When he’s not acting in front of the cameras, Baldemor is busy carving wood and making images in his gallery in Paete. “Simula bata ako, nakagisnan ko na ‘yan. Basta magaling kang karpintero, makakapag hanap-buhay ka,” he said.
He started with carving wooden furniture. “Martilyo at lagare lang ang kailangan mo,” Baldemor said. “Pero ang puhunan mo ‘yung skill mo. Amoy ng kahoy, alam ko na ‘yan. Kahit nakapikit, pwede akong gumawa ng furniture.”
However, wooden furniture-making eventually became a not-so-profitable business for Baldemor.
Eventually, he shifted to doing religious images. Priests all over the Philippines, from as far as Visayas and Mindanao, became his clients and eventually his friends, who commission him to do images,
“Doon ako nag-focus sa images,” Baldemor said. “Made to order po kami. Kung ano gusto ng customer, ‘yun ang gagawin namin. Dasal ang naging susi ko sa hanapbuhay noong nag-umpisa ako 12 years ago. Pinanganak na akong negosyante.”
In his Obras de Paete gallery, Baldemor proudly displays some of his works. He has 20 workers who are busy in his workshop and working areas. He boasted that his gallery has since been part of the Department of Tourism’s destination in Laguna.
Like most non-essential businesses, Baldemor’s Paete Handicrafts was closed during the lockdown, when they had no clients. Still, he opted to be productive.
Today, while his showbiz assignments remain scarce, Baldemor is nonetheless busy doing wood carving.
“Every day, ang mga workers may ginagawa,” he said. “Paete has zero COVID cases, so when GCQ was declared, our mayor readily granted us a permit for the workers. Pero may curfew kami. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. lang trabaho.”
Born in Manila and raised in Laguna, Baldemor was only 18 when he was discovered by Bobby Yalong, who eventually acted as his manager, at the Kamuning Health Center, where he was taking his internship for his nursing degree at De Ocampo Memorial College.
It was Seiko Films producer Robbie Tan who gave Baldemor a break on the big screen. (ABS-CBN)
