Gridcrosser: Tagbilaran City Celebrates

The contingent from the barangay of San Isidro is this year's champion

A few weeks ago, skirmishes between the military and the rogue group Abu Sayaff erupted in the towns of Inabanga and Clarin, jolting the island province of Bohol, a popular tourist destination in central Philippines.

After the incident, security became tight, but it did not dampen the Boholanos' fiesta spirit, especially in the capital city of Tagbilaran, in the southwestern part of the province, which celebrated its fiesta on May 1, 2017, with the Saulog Tagbilaran Festival.

“Tagbilaran after the Inabanga incident remains to be safe, but we should remain vigilant and cautious,” assured Tagbilaran mayor John Geesnell “Baba” Yap, who is responsible for the resurgence of its local festival.

He also emphasized the Boholanos’ love and penchant for celebrating their fiestas.

“If it's fiesta time, Boholanos from other places really go home. ‘Pag Christmas and birthdays, puwedeng hindi umuwi pero ‘pag fiesta, kailangang umuwi. At heart talaga ang celebration namin sa fiesta,” Yap related. “From May 1 to 30, open house ang Bohol. Kahit wala kang dalang pera, buhay ka. You just have to know which town is celebrating its fiesta.”

The Philippines generally loves celebrating fiestas. Almost all towns, cities and even barangays in the country have their own patron saints, which are honored with fiestas. Fiesta, or the celebration of a patron saint's feast day, is both a religious and social affair with masses, processions, devotional practices as well as merriment and feasting. Almost every house would prepare feasts and invite relatives, friends, neighbors and even complete strangers to partake of the feast. In Bohol, feasting lasts for four days—the ante-bisperas, the day before the eve of the fiesta; the bisperas, the eve of the fiesta; the katumanan, the day of the fiesta; and the liwas, the day after the fiesta. One can usually see the delicious humba, a favorite of Boholanos; morcon; rellenong alimasag; dinuguan; kaldereta; different pansit dishes; sweets; and, of course, the lechon displayed on tables. The liwas dishes usually are made from leftovers such as humba again, made more delicious from re-cooking, and the paksiw na lechon.

“This is our culture not only in Tagbilaran but also in Bohol as a whole. We celebrate fiesta a lot,” Yap affirmed.

In 2013, Tagbilaran's fiesta in honor of its patron Saint Joseph the Worker expanded to become a festival. A modern concoction, festivals have become popular in the Philippines, transforming old celebrations or commemorations such founding anniversaries and feast days into festivals; incorporating old traditions, which are upheld by the Catholic church; and injecting new events and activities, mostly spearheaded by the local government, stretching to several days.

The name of Tagbilaran's festival comes from the Cebuano saulog, meaning “celebration” or “to celebrate.” It is held for several days, culminating on May 1, the local feast day dedicated to Saint Joseph.

Yap said they came up with Saulog Tagbilaran because “we want people to know that when they come here to Tagbilaran it's our fiesta. Before, there were not that many activities during fiesta, so we came up with the idea to have street dancing, to improve the Mutya sa Tagbilaran....”

"We also have to promote Tagbilaran City," he added. "When we were in China, they heard about Tagbilaran because of the Saulog...People know of Tagbilaran because of the Saulog."

Festivals have also become a strong promotional tool in the Philippines. Tagbilaran is currently strengthening its tourism program. Although it is the gateway to Bohol, Tagbilaran is often not given much attention by tourists who usually head to more popular destinations such as the white-sand beaches and resorts of Panglao Island, the iconic Chocolate Hills in the interior part of the province, the river cruise in Loboc, the tarsier sanctuary in Corella, etc.

With the construction of an international airport on Panglao Island, many residents feel that Tagbilaran will be ignored with tourists opting to stay in Panglao.

Yap is optimistic about the new airport saying that it will better for Tagbilaran.

“We can use the land of the airport as a commercial area. We will be able to build high-rise structures, which is not possible with the airstrip,” he said. “Tagbilaran is the business area of Bohol, and it will remain so.”

The city though has several tourism plans. One is the construction of the Friendship Park in the barangay of Bool, where the Sandugo marker is located, which will be finished in a few years. Also, the city is promoting its heritage particularly the cluster of old houses in the sitio of Ubos and the National Museum branch, which will be relocated to a much bigger space, the refurbished old capitol building. Then, there is the Saulog Tagbilaran Festival.

"We really want Saulog to be really known, just like when you say ‘Sinulog,’ it's Cebu. We're getting there," Yap said. "It is an opportunity for people to come here, and post their experiences on their social media accounts. It is also a way to connect with investors."

"Of course, [the Saulog Tagbilaran] is also to thank our patron Saint Joseph, thank the Lord for the guidance," he added.

Although the main components of the Saulog Tagbilaran are new and for spectacle, these have become ways of showing gratitude and devotion to the saint. One example is the street dancing event, the most popular segment of Philippine festivals. For many Tagbilaranons, participating in the street dancing is halad, or offering, to the saint.

All the fifteen barangays of the city sent their contingents to compete in the recent street dancing parade and showdown. All of them depicted the devotion and gratitude to Saint Joseph the Worker along with aspects of local culture.

To make the street-dancing their own, Tagbilaran came up with dance steps that should be incorporated in the dance. The four basic dance steps were derived from movements in carpentry, in honor of Saint Joseph. These steps are pangurus, pagsipilya ug pagdukduk, paghalad and pagsaulog. It is inevitable that most performances are inspired by the showcases at the Sinulog Festival, which is the most famous festival not only in the region but also of the country. Many barangays are said to hire choreographers from Cebu City, which is just seventy-two kilometers away, across the Cebu Strait.

Still, the street dancing event highlights many aspects of local culture.

The barangay of Manga’s group incorporated the trisikad, bicycle with sidecar used as commuter vehicle around the barangay, in its performance, while Mansasa highlighted its being a coastal barangay, depicting their plans for its coastal resources and the richness of its marine resources. Dampas's performance focused on and was inspired by the ubi kinampay, the variety of purple yam said to be the most delicious.

Interestingly, Cabawan chose to highlight Bohol's Chinese heritage, showing through dance how the Chinese arrived in Bohol for trade and intermarried with the natives. It ended with the declaration that Tagbilaran has become more progressive because of the presence of Chinese-Filipino families including the Yaps.

Fourth-place winner Taloto depicted the religiosity of the Boholanos—a family attending mass together, showing devotion to San Jose, and passing on the devotion and the tradition of the fiesta to the next generation. On the other hand, fifth-place winner Cogon depicted great travails such as earthquakes and other disasters and the devotion to San Jose that enabled them to survive them. Booy also showed devotion and faith to San Jose, as well as second-place winner Poblacion Tres, which showed hope through during hard times.

Social issues were also depicted. Poblacion Dos tackled the overseas Filipino workers, showing a mother who had to leave to work in the Middle East, leaving behind a husband, who eventually became a drunkard, and a child, who became rebellious. The mother's faith to San Jose had been unwavering, and everything turned out okay. On the other hand, Dao showed man's impact on the environment, several social ills and the importance of education.

Different virtues or values were also used as theme. Third-place winner Tiptip extolled farming and the value of hard work in realizing dreams, while first-place winner San Isidro showed the beauty of romantic love between man and woman.

Other motifs used in the street dancing were manual labor by Poblacion Uno, music by Bool and the four elements by Ubujan, which was exempted from competing, being champion for the last three years.

The productions were impressive and grand, the colors of costumes and props exploding with the lively steps of the dances, eclipsing and erasing any apprehensions about conflicts and crises as much as religiosity and merriment can salve life's trials. Celebration, in a way, is salvation.