Willy Layug: His Life and Art With Betis Galleria

Carving on the classical foundations of Betis’ wood carving tradition; In the vanishing culture of this town, wood sculptor Willy Layug has carved his own niche as the premier artist of the craft in the small town of Betis, Pampanga for more than 30 years. Within his shop, Betis Galleria, his talent and job as a “escultor” (wood carver/sculptor) paved the way to new trends and dynamic style in religious icon-making and retablo-building in Betis.

His works grace magnificent churches here in the Philippines and in other foreign countries. Acknowledged by National Artist Napoleon Abueva as “the number one in the country in the arena of ecclesiastical art”, his daunting style in realism of representing religious icons using wood material, is a new feat that has never been done by any “mandukit” born in Betis. In fact, Layug continues to break the barriers of the town’s wood carving traditional processes by introducing new techniques which he learned from his researches in Europe specifically in Calle Betis, Seville, Spain.

Wilfredo Tadeo Layug in real-life or “Willy” as he is popularly called in Betis was born on December 05, 1959. He was a son of a “matenacan dadaras”, a boat maker. The “matenacan dadaras” in this town were highly revered because they were believed to be the predecessors of the builders of the galleons during the Spanish Colonial Period. Thus, Layug’s inclination to woodcarving founds its roots in this, his father’s vocation.

The proximity to the river was advantageous for his family’s livelihood and for his hobby. Instead of playing with kids of his age, at 8 years old he started sculpturing from clay mud along the banks of the Betis River. This hobby became his life-long passion which led him to work as a pulsayser (a pattern-maker and a one that draws the isometric view of an icon or a furniture) of a small talyer (workshop house) in the neighborhood.

Occasional sentiments from Mr. Layug included comments that his childhood was deprived because he was already working for his family’s daily sustenance at a very young age of his life. He took pride as he narrated this stage of his life story.

His drawing skill was exceptional which allowed him to do full renderings of the icons and furniture rather than creating outlines as guides for wood carvers. Copying from estampitas and catalogues, his skill in visual representation was developed dramatically and designing and drawing became part of his everyday routine. His high school years as a scholar of the former Mayor of Guagua, Baby Eusoof and as a working student under the apprenticeship of Apung Juan Castro, a notable master sculptor at that time, and a certain Pedro Datu was the period when he honed his great talent in both drawing and sculpting.

As an apprentice, he started out making reproductions of religious images with the usual/conventional iconoclastic representations—St. Michael defeating satan; The Holy Family; The Crucified Christ, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Peter and St. Paul and the like. It was during this time too, the 70’s, that reproductions of rebultos and malasantos were in-demand. He started with small pieces and eventually made copies of his own memories from catalogues and pulsays. His first carved figure was an image of St. Francis de Assisi.

According to Willy Layug, one of the most inspiring things that pushed him to pursue a career in sculpture was when he received a World History of Art book given by his uncle Gregorio Culala. The book displayed magnificent works of Greek and Roman sculptures and works of Michelangelo and Bernini. He wanted to imitate these masters. He envisioned in his mind that he will get to see these classical pieces in the future. And he knew that morphing a huge tree trunk to a divine figure could take him there. This affirmed his decision to become a sculptor.

Because of the noticeable talent, Baby Eusoof took the 14 year old Layug to the then solicitor general and former Pampanga Governor Estelito Mendoza and requested for a scholarship grant for a college degree in either Fine Arts or Architecture. Without hesitation, Mendoza acted on the request and immediately looked for a school that will best fit the raw talent of Layug. At that time, Layug could not decide what specific major he would choose and what specific University he wanted to attend. He was also in a dilemma of making a choice between attending college and working because he was the bread winner of his family.

Mendoza suggested the University of Sto.Tomas where Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Fine Arts was offered as a course that can perfectly develop Layug’s talent and drawing skill, technically. The National University in Manila and the University of the Philippines were other alternative choices.

In 1978, Willy went to the University of Sto.Tomas where he took up Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Fine Arts major in Painting as a scholar of Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza. He studied and worked at the same time—to acquire knowledge for his art and to earn for his family.
Although his expertise was in wood sculpture, his mastery of the brush garnered him several awards. He got the third prize in 1982 in an On-The-Spot Painting contest of the City Gallery. In the same year, he got the first prize in the 1982 Annual U.S.T. On-The-Spot Painting Contest . Outside of his own school, he became a semi-finalist to the 1981 U.P. Veterinary Medicine On-The-Spot Painting Contest and a Finalist to the 1982 Blessed Lorenzo Ruiz Martyr Painting Contest.

But despite of these successes in school, the untimely death of Layug’s mother, Rita Tadeo Layug in 1981 shattered him for a time. Willy, having a very close relationship with his mother, felt that he just lost the prime mover of his dreams and ambition. He wanted to quit the degree in UST and become a full time sculptor. But due to some encouragements and inspirations from his peers and friends in college, he went back to school to finish his course.

As part of the restoration of the Fort Santiago in 1981 as proposed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos P. Romulo, Willy Layug was commissioned by Director Esperanza Gatbonton for the simulation of the damaged relief sculpture of Matamoros (St.James’ Slaying the Moors) on the pediment of Gate of Intramuros. Based from the damaged original bas relief, Layug reworked the piece in molave wood. He took apprentices from Paete, Laguna and completed the whole project in 3 months. This is one of the major works of Layug that gave him a good standing and high esteem.

This whole project was spearheaded by Ms.Imelda Marcos, the Minister of Human Settlements.

Career Path

Willy Layug finished his thesis in UST and completed his academic requirements but never
attended his graduation rites dated March 20, 1983 because it was the date of his marriage to his long time sweetheart, Florentina Canasa. He was also busy working, running errands for his family and getting commissioned jobs from clients. One of his major projects was from the late Tourism Minister Jose Aspiras, a project to do 4 carozas which was used in the festival in Agoo La Union.
His projects under Aspiras never ended with these 4 carozas.Layug did a couple of them and was also the one who repaired the baldachino of Our Lady of Charity in Agoo.


After graduation, life as a family man became difficult for Willy Layug. Like many other artists, he experienced a slow-paced career rise because he could hardly get big projects. He had contracts from clients but the profit was only enough to sustain a family and capital for projects.

Then came the People Power Revolution in 1986. There came a time when, with his wife, Florentina, he maintained a swamp cabbage (kangkong) at their backyard as part of their daily sustenance for food. Having two cans of sardines on weekends as the main meal for lunch and dinner was a taste of luxury for the whole family during those harsh times.

Layug considered this period as a turning point in his life. He had his own family to sustain but projects were very elusive. He had a lot family problems especially the ailing condition of his wife. In 1989, through some”important” people, he consulted Condrado Escudero, owner of Villa Escudero about referrals. He was given a gallery at Casa Manila and through this, he was able to connect to priests and bishops because of exposure. This connection led him to meet Bishop Soc Villegas, then the secretary of Jaime Cardinal Sin. Bishop Soc Villegas introduced him to Jaime Cardinal Sin for referral to some potential liturgical projects.

Given the fact that Layug was in a state of financial straits and had no budget to fund a project, Cardinal Sin offered him P100,000 as an investment which was given by Caritas Manila. Out of the the P100,000 offer, Layug only received 30,000 pesos. This marked a new beginning for Willy.
In 1991, he was able to acquire a house in Sitio, a small geo-community between Barrio Sta.Ursula and San Agustin in Betis.

Because of his increasing financial resources, he bought a lot which he used as a workshop for his growing business. It was in this workshop that he built a temporary shelter for his family. This was also the time when he registered Betis Galleria as the official name of his business.

His big break came in 1987 when he was commissioned to do the lecterns and baldacchino of the Sto. Domingo Church along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City. He pioneered the making of detachable relief icons which he applied on this project.

His investments continued to grow. He had a minimum of 2 churches to work on per year which were basically retablo-making and installations. From the initial P30,000 budget, Willy Layug started earning millions from works on churches and on private referrals. As his career ascended, he hired more workers and craftsmen who joined his Betis Galleria. From the earnings obtained from a certain commissioned work which was the Sto. Nino de Tondo, he bought his own car, a Toyota Tamaraw FX, which he used as for his business transactions with clients. That was 1994.

In 1997, he met the Most Rev. Oscar Cruz D.D., Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan and established a long time friendship. It was during this period when Willy Layug focused on retablo-making and his name became popular in the ecclesiastical art world. He started receiving offers to do parochial churches and even cathedrals. To date, Layug has done major retablos of 3 of the main cathedrals in the Philippines namely: The Cathedral of St.Joseph in Nueva Ecija; the St.John Cathedral in Lingayen-Dagupan; San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Concepcion in Urdaneta, Pangasinan (which to this day is still a work-in-progress).

Having a series of commissioned jobs, Layug was never really satisfied with the outcome of his sculptures. As a prolific artist with a formal background in Fine Arts, he felt that there was something missing in his works. He wanted to learn new styles and techniques in sculpture. He wanted to deviate from the traditional norms of local carving.

In 1999, armed with enough funds he decided to go to Europe with his wife to do some research.
In his desire to gain more knowledge of Europe artistry, he visited places such as Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria and Poland. He tried to analyze the different styles specifically the one applied in retablos inside European churches. He found out that the grotesque style in Germany was quite different from the style seen in Rome. The idea of modification was also prevalent in these places.

Upon his return to the Philippines, he brought home the “realism” influences and “contrapposto” stance (Italian term for human figure sculpture with a counterpoise) of Europe. His sculpture began to transform from the orthodox stiffness to a dynamic and “plastic style”. With a burning passion for new knowledge and learning, he went back to Europe in 2003. But before he did another European tour, Willy Layug, already recognized for his magnificent contributions in the field of ecclesiastical art, was awarded by the provincial government of Pampanga as the “2002 Most Outstanding Kapampangan Award in Ecclesiastical Art (MOKA)”. Willly Layug, the once 8-year old boy who made clay sculptures along the Betis River living his dream

Bayuntau (A New Person)

Bayuntau in Capampangan simply refers to a male adolescent who just came from the stage of puberty ( bayu” means new while “tau” means a person.). Willy Layug was now a bayuntau- truly a new person with a new concept,technique and style for his art—

With his continued research and through Instituto de Cervantes, Layug met Mr. Joey Panlilio, the Museum Curator of De La Salle-Dasmariñas. Mr. Panlilio referred him to Director of Instituto,Rafael Galban one of his important contacts: a Spanish Sculptor named Jose Antonio Navarro Arteaga who manages a talyeres in Calle Betis, Seville Spain.

Will Layug excitedly accepted the referral because the place where Arteaga was located was very much connected to his roots—Calle Betis. Aided by some research, he discovered that the town of Betis where Layug was born took its roots from this place. It was noted that according to Antonio Pigafetta, biographer of Ferdinand Magellan, their ships passed along the Betis River in Sevilla, a part of Andalusia a year before they discovered the Philippines in 1521.

On March 18, 2007, he went to Seville in Spain and spent the whole month as an apprentice under Maestro Arteaga. Arteaga,a sculptor of liturgical pieces especially religious icons (escultor de imageneres). He was taught age-old techniques but were basically new to Layug—clay modeling. This clay modeling was part of the process Arteaga showed in doing a piece of sculpture. In his hometown, Betis the making of sculptures started with the chunk of wood itself in a subtractive method, Layug discovered that this clay-modeling technique was far more efficient because it served as guide to model the actual sculptured piece, thus minimizing errors.

The workshop had 2 sessions—a week of sculpture and of painting which were divided into day and night schedules, respectively. What fascinated Layug was the process used for “encarna”(painting an icon). Painting the sculptures was a tedious effort and required a lengthy procedure. The materials used were cola de kunejo, stucco, ducco and processed by estofado (quilting) and dorado (gilding). Painting a sculpture was a 7-way treatment. Au contraire, a Betis encarnador immediately placed a sanding sealer or muniegu fa before the final coating, Willy Layug called Arteaga’s technique: Antigong Tekniko where several layers of paint were put on the surface of an icon and then rubbed with abrasives to make it smooth as silk. This was basically a meticulous process of concealing the pores of the wood inside preventing any breakage and leaks before an icon underwent estofado and durado It made the finished sculpture durable. In the gilding process, real gold leaf were applied. Gold leaf was not readily available in the Philippines so Layug bought and brought the gold leaf to the Philippines.


Willy Layug applied these techniques on some of his works which resulted in additional expenses. In a community of mass-reproductions of furniture, the “estofado” technique was an expensive treatment thus limiting his clientele to those who could afford.
But Willy Layug’s goal was not to increase his profit. What matteded to him was personal growth and satisfaction. Layug,the artist longed for a dynamic style not limited to religious/liturgical images but to do sculptures of life that reflected everyday reality.

The Betis Galleria

“What [Layug] learned from Seville is really the height of ecclesiastical art. It is really something to have here around. I hope our seminarians will come here and revive their interest in good art in our churches,” according to Napoleon Abueva.,the highly-revered national artist as he gazed through the icons created by Willy Layug.
(By Tonette Orejas, Philipppine Daily Inquirer, March 18,2008)

March 16 this year, Willy Layug opened his newly-built showroom Betis Galleria along Gapan-Olongapo Road, Pampanga. The opening was attended by several prominent people of Pampanga including Betis furniture Tycoon, Myrna Bituin of Betis Crafts, Andy Alviz of Artista Rita, Bishop Pablo S. David and his brother, Prof. Randy David and wife, Ms. Carina David, Archbishop Paciano Aniceto and Bishop Robert Mallari, Center for Kapampangan Studies; chairman Robby Tantingco and colleague Alex Maynardo, Prof. Corazon Hila of the UP College of Fine Arts Art Theory Department, and Governor Among Ed Panlilio. National Artist Napoleon Abueva graced the occasion by cutting the ribbon for the opening of the Galleria. Media coverage from Sunstar Pampanga, CLTV and ABS-CBN came to witness the unveiling of the showroom.

The Betis Galleria showroom was and is basically a showcase of the evolution of the artist’s works. There were mounted retablos and icons, applied with the “estofado” technique and some elements of baroque style.

According to Abueva, Layug is a master not only in sculpting but in painting, done in a very realistic way. Abueva added that Layug is number one in the country in the arena of ecclesiastical art. He had the eye for coloring, especially in the handling of gold and silver. (By Tonette Orejas, Philipppine Daily Inquirer, March 18,2008).

Layug had only known Napoleon Abueva last year when the two were on the same terra-cotta seminar in Dumaguete. They met and exchanged views in art until Abueva decided to invite Layug to exhibit the latter’s work at the Yellow Door Gallery in Rockwell Center in Makati. Willy Layug is now preparing for this exhibit.

Influence of Abueva may be seen in new subjects that depict the modern ordinary life. Although Layug will never leave his common subjects on Catholic faith, he is now making studies in creating everyday scenes that he planned to execute using the “estofado” technique.

Right now, his “estofado” technique can be seen in several 2-dimensional paintings done recently. Mostly seen in portraits, after covering the entire panel with gold leafs, pigments were applied to conceal it. When the pigment and oil paints dry, Layug used the gold underneath as highlights of the subjects in the pictorial field. This was done by scratching the surface—a technique use during the Middle Ages especially on the Byzantine Icons.

Willy Layug’s living legacy to the Betis people seen through his works, deviates from the conventions he grew up with: timber is transformed into a divine figure deified through faith and belief- truly, a feat to be proud of.