Tattoo artist, family killed in typhoon; son missing

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Don’t dismiss it as another Yolanda gimmick.

Over the weekend, Tattoo artist Trino Maslan received donations in kind for typhoon victims at his Trini’s Tattoo at Lourdes Grotto’s Upper Parking Lot Guard House. In exchange, he tattooed the donors for free.

Activities like this was Maslan’s and other Cordillera tattoo artists’ way of paying tribute to artist Jonas “Agit” Sustento, who died with his wife Geo Bindo Sustento and his parents when they were swept by the storm surge that hit Tacloban City in Leyte on November 8.

Their 3-year-old son Tarin, who was handed a life vest by Agit, remains missing. People have relayed information that the boy was seen in Cebu, Masbate, and Davao.

The boy, according to posters posted by relatives and family friends, was wearing only a diaper and the vest during the storm. Diagnosed with mild autism, he cannot speak and doesn’t know his name. He has a mole on the right side of his chest.

Agit, who was also the bassist of Kadangyan, was a frequent Baguio visitor and an enthusiast of traditional tattooing.

In the book Tapping Ink, Tattooing Identities by University of the Philippines-Baguio anthropologist Analyn Amores, Agit is described as a “modern-day Pintado.”

“A young self-taught tattoo practitioner who vowed to revive the traditional tattoos of the Bisayan people, he did his own research to learn this intricate process of tattooing,” the book says.

Friends and colleagues staged a tribute concert for Agit and Geo at Kikan Café here on Friday. 

“Padayon, kapatid, may your pang-utob (tattoos) be your light to the afterlife as the old would say,” Amores said.

Those who get have information on Agit’s son Tarin may contact the following: Genevieve Bindo 0905-663-3401; Gel Bindo 0915-386-9901; Bibeth Lacaden 0917-590-9837; Karl Wilcockson 0927-689-7354; and Ernie Lacaden 0917-507-3051. – Rappler