Gridcrosser: Searching for Identity, Seeking Tourists: Mimaropa Holds First Regional Festival

The Bila-Bila Festival performing delegation from Marinduque participates in the first Mimaropa Festival in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, in November 2015

At the northwest part of the Philippines, southwest of its largest island Luzon, a cluster of islands and provinces—Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan, grouped together and given the portmanteau name Mimaropa— is trying to construct a singular identity. This, however, can be a tricky and elusive effort.

Unlike some of country’s other regions with a single ethnic make-up such as the Ilocano Ilocos region and the Cebuano Central Visayas, or groupings of related cultures such as Western Visayas and the Cordilleras, Mimaropa’s culture is not easily distinguishable. It is predominantly Tagalog, thus sharing cultural characteristics with nearby regions such as Central Luzon, the National Capital Region and the Southern Tagalog Region. Its other indigenous cultures—such as the Mangyan in Mindoro, the Rombloanon of Romblon and the Palawan groups including the Cuyunon, Palaw-an, Tagbanua, Jama Mapun and Batac—as well as its distinct folk traditions, such as the Lenten Moriones practice of Marinduque, can be rich sources in crafting a regional cultural identity but they are very identifiable to the provinces of their origins and are not common to the whole Mimaropa.

Being the first ever mounting, this problem naturally cropped up during the Mimaropa Festival, which was held from November 9 to 14, 2015, in Calapan City, the capital of Oriental Mindoro and the hub of the region.

“This is the first-ever festival where we will showcasing not only the products but also the festivals, the warmth of the people, the destinations…Mimaropa is a place so rich and so blessed with a lot of beautiful natural attractions. Not only that, it is rich in culture, history and heritage. Of course, we take pride in the warmth of the people. Everywhere you go, you see people smiling. This is what we should showcase to the world,” explained Department of Tourism (DoT) Mimaropa regional director Minerva Aldaba Morada, whose office is supporting the effort.

According to Oriental Mindoro governor Alfonso V. Umali Jr., the idea for the region-wide festival sprang up during a meeting of the Regional Development Council, and it was agreed that a festival will be held annually with the venue rotating among the five provinces. However, the plan, intended for the summer, floated about and did not immediately come to fruition.

When Oriental Mindoro was preparing to celebrate its 65th foundation anniversary on November 15, 2015, Umali thought of enjoining the whole Mimaropa Region and thus finally jumpstarting the holding of the festival, which he believes to be the first festival in the country in the regional level.

The festival was attended by officials, representatives and guests from the region’s five provinces and its two cities, Calapan City and Puerto Princesa City in Palawan, despite the region being geographically fragmented by seas and straits, making going around the region challenging. But, according to Oriental Mindoro officials, the festival enjoyed strong support. There is a strong collaboration with other provinces and there is solidarity, especially among politicians here, Umali said.

Primarily to showcase the different festivals of the Mimaropa provinces, the Mimaropa Festival was composed of three major events, the de-rigueur components of Philippine festivals—the agriculture, tourism and trade fair at the provincial capitol where a cluster of booths showcased the products of different towns; the street dancing competition; and a festival queen pageant, where Palawan’s Sharla Santillan from Busuanga was crowned winner with Marielle Sarmiento of Oriental Mindoro as first runner-up and Princess Ahne Noche of Marinduque as second runner-up.

The street dancing parade and competition, like in all Philippine festivals, was the highlight of the festivities, held on November 14. A parade went through the main street of J.P. Rizal and ended at the Oriental Mindoro National High School grounds, where the groups entertained the crowds in a showdown competition.

Hailed as champion was the Baragatan sa Palawan Festival group from Palawan. The Baragatan sa Palawan Festival is celebrated every June to commemorate the establishment of Palawan as a province in 1905. The name comes from the Cuyunon word bagat, which means “to gather for festivity.” The Palawan contingent consisted of students from the town of Quezon, and their dance depicted the everyday lives of Palawan peoples as well as their cultures-farming, fishing, the Manunggul jar discovered inside the Tabon Cave System in Quezon and the Muslim groups-as well as the aspiration for progress.

The first runner-up was the colorful Bila-Bila Festival group from Marinduque. Bila-Bila Festival is a celebration of Marinduque’s capital, Boac, held during its town fiesta on December 8 and it highlights the butterfly and the province’s emerging industry of butterfly breeding. The Mimaropa Festival dance of the Bila-Bila Festival group centered around a local belief, said to be old Tagalog: If you have a wish, capture a butterfly, whisper your wish to it and set it free. In exchange for its freedom, the butterfly will carry your wish to heaven and it will be granted. The dance also depicted the folklore of the forbidden relationship of Marin and Gat Duke, from whom the province is said to acquire its name, and showed elements of local culture such as the use of the bamboo instrument kalutang, the devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the practice of putong.

Romblon’s Biniray Festival contingent was bestowed second runner-up prize for their lively performance. Intended to honor the province’s patron, Santo Niño during his feast day in the second week of January, the performance was similar to Aklan’s Ati-Atihan Festival and Cebu’s Sinulog Festival, Visayas’ prominent Santo Niño celebrations, with rousing drumbeats, tribal costumes and frenetic steps.

The remaining contingents were homegrown—the Dabalistihit Festival group of Naujan representing Oriental Mindoro, and Calapan City’s Kalap Festival group. The Dabalistihit Festival group was the winner of Oriental Mindoro’s Sandugo Festival cultural dance competition, which had fourteen municipalities participating and showcasing the culture of the Mangyan, an indigenous people of Mindoro Island, as well as the their relationship with the damuongs, non-Mangyan peoples. Dabalistihit is portmanteau for dalag, banak, banglis, tilapia and hito, freshwater fishes found in Naujan and the focus of its festival. On the other hand, the Kalap Festival is inspired by the origin of Calapan’s name, the Tagalog word kalap, “to forage for food.” Festival performers try to tell a history of Calapan, from people in searching for food and the formation of a settlement to the invasion of Muslim pirates and the triumph of the Catholic faith.

The street dance parade, featuring groups judged as the best by the provinces through their own province-wide festivals, provided a glimpse of the different stories and traditions as well as the similarities of the Mimaropa provinces.

A distinctive identity of the festival as well as of the region may take time to emerge. Whether the festival has a fixed date is still being thought about. Organizers are still learning from the experience in mounting the first regional festival and have high hopes for it. What is foremost, aside from being an avenue where the region’s provinces come together and celebrate, is to promote the different attractions of the region as the festival is primarily aimed at boosting tourism in the area, attracting more visitors and investor and advancing the region’s new tourism slogan, “Naturally, the Destination of Choice.”

“Tourism has assumed a new face,” said Morada. “Before it used to be promotions, marketing. Our law says more than that. It says that tourism should be used as engine for social and economic development, that it should be used to uplift the lives of the people.”

She mentioned the myriad “economic benefits” when tourists arrive. About 1.2 million tourists arrived in Mimaropa in 2014, she said, generating about Php13 billion in tourist receipts, which is a “big contribution in the regional economy.” Officials are hoping to surpass that number in the following years.