'BUHAYANI’ FESTIVAL. Calamba City launches the Buhayani Festival 2019 at the Dinghao Chinese Cuisine and Restaurant on Friday (Nov. 9, 2018). Next year’s festival will feature more innovations, besides the “Sayaw Indak Competition,” won by these students of the Calamba Integrated School in the 2018 Buhayani Festival. (Photo by Zen Trinidad)
CALAMBA CITY, Laguna -- The city government, through its Cultural Affairs, Sports and Tourism Development Department (CATSDD), is gearing up for a more innovative celebration of the week-long “6th Buhayani Festival” in June next year.
“We will not stop innovating,” Mayor Justin Marc Chipeco told representatives of various business establishments, civic and non-government organizations, public and private schools, and government agencies during the formal launch of the festival at the Dinghao Chinese Cuisine and Restaurant Function Hall here Friday.
Celebrated in honor of National Hero and Calambeño compatriot Dr. Jose Rizal, the festival is considerably young compared to other festivals in the country, yet it has already earned recognition since its staging as an annual event starting in 2014, Chipeco said.
He thanked various sectors in the city for their support and participation in making the celebration livelier and more meaningful through the years.
In her event review presentation, Larissa P. Malinao, CASTDD head, said the Buhayani 2018 Grand Parade was a record-breaking event that drew some 16 competing floats, 14 groups of street dancers, and more than 5,000 participants in their Jose Rizal costumes.
It was also a record-breaking fete for the Buhayani Football Cup, where 74 teams joined the event, she said, adding that two biking events were introduced -- the Mountain Bike Race and Road Bike Race.
These bike races were given relevant twists besides the usual bike activity as the bikers/riders also conducted tree-planting and river clean-up activities led by the PEPEDALS bikers group.
Likewise, the “Salu-salo ng Aning Calambeño” was introduced in collaboration with the City Agriculture Office, where scores of village folks from the city’s 54 barangays (villages) brought their best farm produce and delectable cuisine, which they shared with festival participants, guests and visitors.
"This sharing of a variety of food products created a culinary map of the city,” Malinao said.
Moreover, Rizal’s Chinese lineage was the subject of the photo exhibit on the “Beauty of Fujian”, the province where Jinjiang City is located -- the home of Rizal’s great, great grandfather. The photos were provided by Philippine Consul General to Xiamen Julius Caesar Flores.
Malinao said that Chipeco has signed an agreement with Jinjiang City officials expressing the intention to enter into a twinning relation with the city.
The lineup of activities for the week-long celebration, which kicked off June 12 (Independence Day) and winded up on June 19 (Rizal’s birth anniversary) were the “Kwentong Bayani” storytelling of the lives of local heroes by city officials to students; the “Buhayani” Job Fair where 448 jobseekers were hired on the spot; the “Tagisan ng Talinong Rizal”, a contest on the knowledge of the youth about Rizal; “Sayaw Indak” Competition, a colorful and lively display of student’s terpsichorean talents; “Baile sa Bayan ni Pepe”, a night of dancing featuring the Rigodon and Cotillion de Honor; and Eye Care Program which highlighted Rizal as an eye doctor.
According to Malinao, the Buhayani Festival, a brainchild of Chipeco, depicts the life of Dr. Jose Rizal with the greater aim of producing living heroes who will lead the city towards the path of development.
Meanwhile, Liza Estolano, CATSDD supervising tourism officer, said the festival, institutionalized through City Ordinance No. 575, earned the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) Pearl Award City Category as second place in 2015, and third place in 2016 and 2017 since it started in 2O14.
To signify the formal launch of Buhayani Festival 2019, the official Buhayani music, composed by Vehnee Saturno in 2014, was aired with dance interpretation performed by students of the Calamba Integrated School, the grand winner of the Sayaw Indak Competition 2018. (Zen Trinidad/PNA)
