In a survey conducted in the year 1991, it showed that barangay Bantayan has 200 depressed families. Families with little or no income at all. Livelihood opportunities were so scarce during those days. In one of the Barangay Development Council meetings in Bantayan, an initiator in the person of Dr. Elena G. Maquiso came to being. She called the woman of Bantayan to join hands to address the problem. So Hiniusang Kababayen-an sa Bantayan (HIKABAN) was born with the leadership of the late Dr. Elena G. Maquiso, as the Chairman. The group of 17 women started a handicraft project using abaca, bamboo and other indigenous fibers as raw materials. Later on, the group opened up a little consumer store for the basic needs of the members. Sources of funds in these projects came from the friends of the late Dr. Elena G. Maquiso and the shares of members. Dr. Maquiso envisioned the group to become a cooperative. BCOD, advised the group to become a chapter of one of the cooperatives in the city. These people operated then, not as a cooperative but as a chapter coop. Then it was resolved to include men in the membership. By that, the meaning of KA in HIKABAN was change from “Kababayen-an to Katawhan,” so from “Hiniusang Kababayen-an sa Bantayan” to “Hiniusang Katawhan sa Bantayan,” maintaining the acronym “HIKABAN.”

    With the above project the problem was not well addressed. In 1993, the group felt pursuing another project that could generate employment. The group decided to have a project that could employ more people. The project was entitled the “Integrated Native Pineapple Development Project.” This involved the planting of pineapple, processing the leaves into fiber, knot the fiber to form a yarn, then weave the knotted fiber into loth.oth.