The carabao is any Filipino farmer’s strong, reliable and uncomplaining companion. It is not a “beast of burden”, as some foreign interlopers made the Filipinos believe but failed.

They may even be in clockwise rotation forming an oval, with a singular bird in contrasting colors. Their eyes are wide open at rest , their horns providing the counterpoint to the diagonal foreheads as they face the viewer. Birds are their playmates they enjoy picking the carabao’s fleas or simpy enjoying the warm burst of breath from the animal’s flared noses.

(Quote of the text from the Book Revisiting ‘Mabini Art’, published in 2013 by Transwing Art Gallery; Prof. Zafaralla)