Features

Pacifico Sudario: The man who coined "Dinagyang"
By Boy Espejo Jr

The man who coined the word "Dinagyang" is no longer in our midst.

But Pacifico S. Sudario is assured of a significant niche in the history of Iloilo City when he gave it's annual pompous socio-religious and cultural festival a name-signifying merry-making-which has since became a byword in Ilonggo households.

While volumes of material had been written about the Dinagyang and its impact on tourism, nobody though about writing a piece on Sudario, or "Picoy", as friends and associates call him.

We hope this short article will rectify the oversight and familiarize the man with the present generation of merrymakers who hardly knew him.

Pacifico Sumagpao Sudario was born on May 17, 1917, in Zarraga, Iloilo, where he also spent much of his childhood.

He was married to Marietta Benemile Sudario (now deceased) and their union produced eight children, namely: Eunice; Gideon, a successful businessman; Smyrna, now with the Philippine Information Agency; Lydda, also a successful businesswoman; Phoebe, who works with the Iloilo City Government; Mara, employed by the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority; Miriam and Dinah Joy.

His educational attainment is a blur, although daughter Smyrna-who now regrets the family's failure to keep the clan's records intact-is certain he finished his elementary and high school education in Zarraga before going on to complete a correspondence course in journalism.

It was actually as a newscaster-commentator-writer that Picoy gained a great degree of popularity in the 1960s up to his untimely demise in 1989.

Veteran broadcasters Ed Morales, Ed Padilla and Carlos Brasileño (who succumbed to a lingering illness in late 2001) have nothing but pleasant memories of Picoy who they claim was one of the pioneering blocktimers in Iloilo radio along with Rafael Valencia and Ramon dela Luna.

The three remember Sudario as a jolly fellow, friendly, masinadyahon, malangas, palahambal, religious, and with a hand ready to help anyone in need or in distress.

Ed Morales, who owns working stints with dyRI, dyBQ, IBC-TV 12 and dyXX, among others, considers Picoy as his broadcasting mentor. Sudario, he recalls, started with DyRI sometime in 1959 when that station was still under the aegis of the Visayan Broadcasting Network (and later the Universal Broadcasting Corporation). Sudario was at the time doing the morning newcast sponsored by Panay Electric Company as well as another locally-sponsored commentary, Morales recalls.

Picoy would later transfer his newscast and commentary of dyFM (Northern Broadcasting Corporation), brought there by friends Ric Berlin, who was station manager at the time, and Vic Mercado.

Ed Padilla and Caloy Brasileño, on the other hand, share a singular experience with Sudario. The two were trained by Picoy in news writing.

Brasileño fondly remembers Sudario, who was a member of the Sumakwelan, both as a versatile writer in the vernacular and as an objective radio commentator who treats issues without any hint of bias at the height of his radio career.

On the other hand, Padilla said it always fascinated him to see Picoy take an English-language national daily and make direct translations in the vernacular of the news items therein during his morning newscasts. At times, when the newspaper deliveries were delayed, Picoy would produce pieces of paper from his pockets where he has previously stashed notes and various items heard on radio the night before and then report these on the air.

"His favorite expression was 'Husto 'ina!' and he would roar with this expression every time a fellow commentator hits an issue right in its most sensitive context," Padilla reminisces.

They also remember an accident, probably in the 70s, where Sudario figured in a road accident while riding his motorcycle. "The accident broke his nose, but not his sense of humor," Ed Morales said.

Picoy, the tree attested, was also fond of discussing the Scriptures with anyone who cared to listen. This inclination, the added, was brought about by his active membership with the Jehovah's Witnesses.

But he was not exactly blameless when it comes to observing orders by Church elders to stay away from forbidden matter. Morales recalls with amusement how the barkada would frequently tempt Picoy into eating a bowl of dinuguan at Johnny's Place in Burgos Street where they often hanged out, and how Picoy would often succumb to the temptation. Brasileño also attests that Picoy was fond, too, of kaldereta.

In 1977, Picoy attended a conference called by the City Government leadership to hear suggestions as to how to give the religious-cultural festival celebrated annually by Iloilo City a distinct name and identity.

Amidst suggestion such as Hinugyaw, Kasadyahan and other catchy words in the dialect, Sudario stood up and told the conferees that Dinagyang, meaning merry-making, aptly describes the spirit that goes with each observation of the festival. The conferees listened intently to the logic of his suggestion and by the time the meeting ended, Dinagyang was to be unanimously adopted as the name of the festival.

Ed Morales remembers how Sudario told him that the name just shot out of his head for the simple reason that each celebration sees people making "dagyang" or merriment.

The former Iloilo City Government information officer Rene Bartolo-Espeleta introduced me to Picoy sometime in the early 80s. By that time, he was no longer as active as he once was on radio. However, he was still writing occasionally for the weekly Bag-ong Kasanag, having suffered a stroke hat somehow curtailed his journalistic activities.

The place was the Dinagyang Restaurant in the old Pendy's Building at J.M Basa Street, and I remember clearly that Picoy was then in the company of veteran journalist Fraulin Peñasales and Fermin Sornito, among others. Their discussion was lively and criticism about the City Government were flying thick and fast. Bursts of laughter occasionally punctuate the session, and as Rene desperately defended City Hall, I sat through it all enjoying my role as a simple spectator.

When it was time for parting, Picoy gave me fatherly eye and said, "What you hear at Pendy's must never leave Pendy's."

I saw him twice or three times again after that.

The on April 24, 1989, Picoy suffered a cerebral stroke-his third-and was dead at age 72.

Nobody, not even members of his family, ever heard him flaunt the fact that he coined the word that would make Iloilo famous over the year: Dinagyang.

The Kasadyahan tribes

Tribu Kahilwayan
(Sta. Barbara- NCHS)

Sta. Barbara, Iloilo, The Year 2003

For the residents of the barangay, life has become a cycle that starts with being awake at the last crow of the rooster.

Even before the sun rises, the barangay is humming with activity. The farmer breaks the earth in preparation for the planting. The backyard has become a chorus of hungry pigs, squawking ducks and crackling chicken. The backyards and even the streets, now beginning to fill with the tricycles going to town for church market, are busy with people eager to make the barangay clean and green.

The women, young and old, mothers with kids tugging along, are in the backyard garden keeping their faith so that the food will be always in the home. Among the cluster of old Mango trees you can see a group of young and old men in unhindered excitement as they watch two cocks in fight. From the distance you can hear the distinctive beat of the tuba gatherer.

The sun brightens up with mothers smiling by the gates waving goodbye to their children hurrying to school. The day of Barangay Manhayang has But for this hardy children and grandchildren and great grandchildren of the revolucionarios of General Martin Delgado life is not always this routine. Once in a while there will be weddings, fietas and other celebrations of the family and community life. There was even a time when they had to fight, not a revolution again, but against the floodwaters that threatened to drown the barangay, a threat that continues even up to this time.

In their daily struggles to keep the barangay safe for the family and community, the residents can always have recourse on their strength: their heritage of being descendants of the revolucionarious of Gen. Martin Delgado and their faith in the Sto. Nino, patron of the family unity.

Tribu Hugyaw
(Lemery National High School)

ILOILO, puluy-an sang mga Ilonggo, ginapadayaw sang mga FILIPINO. Lugar nga mainuswagon kag puno sang kasadya. Ginakabig sang kalabanan nga sa sini nga lugar makit-an ang mga malipayon, mainabiahihon, mainabyanon kag mga mabinuligon nga mga tawo. Ini ang mga Ilonggo, may kinaugalingon nga kultura, pagpati, tradisyon kag pagtuo. Ini nagapakita sang kon anu nga sari sang pagpangabuhi ang ila kinabuhat sa adlaw-adlaw nga tanan.

Ang mga Ilonggo may daku nga pag-ulikid, pag-amlig kag pagpalangga sa iya pamilya. Paghangad sang pag-uswag kag talambuan sang pagpangabuhi. Ini isa lamg ka mayo nga kinaugali-an nga duna sa ila tanan. Ang mga tawo mapisan, labi na gid sa pagpangita sang pagkaon para sa ila nga pamilya.

Ang PAGPANGAYAM isa ka buluhaton sang mga tawo nga ila pa ginpanubli sa ila mga katigulangan kag namat-an nga pagpangabuhi sang katawhan. Ini amu ang papangita sang nanari-sari nga kasapatan sa kagubatan kag pagahimuon nga pagkaon sang ila nga pamilya agud indi magutom.

Isa man nga parte sang ila pagpangabuhi, ang paghalad sang pagkaon sa mga espiritohanon para madula ang mga sablag sa ila pagpangabuhi. Kag labaw sa tanan ang pag-ampu sa kahitaasan sa pagpangayo sang bugana nga grasya para sa ila tanan.

Pagkatapos sang pagpangabudlay duna man sa mga Ilonggo ang pagkinasadya, ang paghugpng sang tanan nga miyembro sang pamilya, mga kakilala kag mga kaabyanan para sa isa ka pagtililipon nga mangin tunaan sang isa ka daku nga selebrasyon.

Mga kaabyanan ini ang mga Ilonggohanon lain sa tanan kag dapat ipabugal sa sanlibutan.

VIVA! Ilonggo...!

VIVA! Sr. Sto. Niño!

Tribu Blaka

KINAANDAN...naglatay sa hilamun nga bulawan

Gikan sa amon pagkabata, sa kun indi ako magsala
May paranubli-on nga kamal-aman ang nagtinguha
Kinaandan nga nabugtawan halin sa pagkabata Nga dapat padayunon kag ipakita.

Kag sa pagpanglakaton sang panahon
Diri sa amon minuro nga malipayon
Kami ginabugayan sang mapinuslanon nga hilamun
Kawayan ini kun tawgon

Bulawan ini kun kabigun Pangabuhian namun diri naga dihon
Sa pag uswag amon napanumdum
Kawayan indi lang ordinaryo nga tanum.

Bunga sang pagbinuligay kag paghinangpanay
Sa tunga sang pamuluyo nga nagahirupay
Amon napaminsaran nga magpinangalipay
Kag padunggan hilamon nga naghatag kabuhing hilway.

Tultugan...Kapistahan sang Kawayan!

Sa tunga sang pagsinadya, pagsa-ulog, kag pag inarigay
Indi lang gali kmi ang nagapasalamat kag nagakalipay
Sila ang mga tinuga nga magagmay Puno sang kawayn ila bugal nga panimalay.

Ang mga koring mondo!

Para sa ila kawayan indi lamang hilamun
Ini isa ka katilingban kun kabigun
Lugar kung sa diin sila nagadihon-dihon
Sang ila pagpangabuhi nga malinung

Inyo subong masaksihan, pangabuhing kina-andan
Kulturang kinamuklatan ginpanami pagid sang kawayan
Amon man ipakita ang paghatag importansya sa tanan nga mga butang
Ini mangin tawo ukon sapat man nga may kabuhing dapat ipahamtang.

Tulad sa aton kag sa mga koring mondo man
Nga ang kina-andan naglatay sa hilamun nga bulawan
Ang KAWAYAN...

Tribu Salognon
Ang Mga Ilonggo sa Uma

Ang mga Ilonggo masinadyahon,. Bisan sa uma man sila ngapangabuhi, sa bisan ano man nga sahi sang pagpangabudlay sa pangita sangmakaon,ila ini himu-on basta sa mayo lang nga pala-agyan.

Adlaw-adlaw nga pangabuhi,m ang humay amo ang aton makabig nga isa sa mga importante nga tanum nga amo ang guinahalinan sang aton pagkaon. Sa panud-anon, ara man ang baybayon nga amo ginakuha an sang isda rara isud-an.

Dugang pa sina, may mga kasapatan man sila nga guinasagod para gamiton sa pagpanguma kag kon kaisa guinabaligya man sa tindahan para gawi-on sa pagbakal sang iban pa nga mga kinahanglanon sa sulod sang balay.

Apang kon ka-isa indi naton malikawan nga mga unos nga naga-abot sa pagtilaw sang aton nga mga pagtoo kay Ginoong Hesus. Pagtilaw nga kon ka-isa nagapalingkang sang aton mga balatyagon kag panghuna-huna.Sa sini nga mga rason, ang Tribu Salognon nagbalay sang isa ka senaryo sa uma para ipakita ang mga pagginawi sang isa ka Ilonggo sa uma.

"Ilonggos sa baryo sa unos mabakod nga nagakapyut kay Señor Sto.Niño.

An invitation to Dinagyang 2003
By Wenceslao E. Mateo Jr.

HERE is an invitation to Dinagyang 2003, a two-week festivity that combines religiosity in honor of Señor Santo Niño and pure fun and frolic. Hala bira!

The fluvial procession at the Iloilo River for the Sto. Niño comes on January 24. The next day, January 25, is Kasadyahan Day, a cultural street pageantry. January 26 brings the Ati-atihan, a battle of skills and costumes from indigenous materials of stomping soot-painted tribal warriors. if you feel like dancing soon after, just go out on the street and join the crowd in street merrymaking.

Come and share with us your valuable company. For the faithful, make it a pilgrimage for the fluvial parade of the Sto. Niño. And, for all, enjoy all that's basically Dinagyang with a plus about it that every year brings.

You may also make this visit to Dinagyang 2003 in Iloilo as a homecoming to restrengthen old ties and establish new ones.

Or for taking nostalgia back to all that's hauntingly charming and beautiful here among its tourist attractions.

Perhaps a sojourn, too, for a work in art, music or literature in some enchanting beach, cover of foliage or craggy edge, or wherever Inspiration might be most altruistic.

Business prospecting, if you may, or scouting for talents for your stage, TV or movie outfit. Or just on a visit for a different fun and frolic from the old year with family members and friends.

These, and more, you will enjoy when in Iloilo during this year's Dinagyang festivities. And you wouldn't regret it, believe us!

You can relish Iloilo when you are here with a package of intimate information of the place and its immediate neighbors, itsÿinteresting nooks and crannies, its kind of unique fun for the visitors, its delicious native foods, and the world-renown hospitality of Ilonggos.

Irong-Irong appears in the Maragtas legend of the coming of the ten Borneo datus to Panay who bartered gold for the plains and valleys of the island from a local Ati chieftain.

One datu, named Paiburong, was given the territory of Irong-Irong, now Iloilo. For 300 years before the coming of the Spaniards, the islanders lived in comparative prosperity and peace under an organized government and such laws as the Code of Kalantiaw.

In 1566, the Spaniards under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi came to Panay and established a settlement in Ogtong (now Oton, Iloilo). He appointed Gonzalo Ronquillo as deputy encomiendero who, in 1581, moved the seat of Spanish power to La Villa de Arevalo, named in honor of his hometown of Avila in Spain. By 1700, due to recurrent raids by Moro pirates, Dutch and English privateers, the Spaniards moved to the village of Irong-Irong where close to the mouth of the river they built Fort San Pedro. Irong-Irong or Ilong-Ilong which the Spaniards later shortened to "Iloilo" became the capital of the province.

The rapid economic growth of the place led to the opening of the port of Iloilo to world trade in 1855. Iloilo soon emerged to be the biggest center of commerce and trade in Visayas and Mindanao, second only to Manila. On February 7, 1890, under the Becerra Law of 1889, the Ayuntamiendo of Iloilo (city government) was established. The city of Iloilo by virtue of the Royal Decree of 1896 was given the "honor" of having a Coat of Arms with the inscription: "La Muy Leal y Noble Ciudad de Iloilo."

The periods under the Americans saw Iloilo taking greater roles in politics, industry and agriculture. With good roads, a railway line, airport and irrigation system, Iloilo rose to be a major food basket of the country. Its fishing industry flourished that it was known as the "Alaska of the Philippines." The sugar industry also pushed the economy upward.

Iloilo's march on the road to progress was hindered by the coming of the Second World War, but not its march to greatness. For even in difficult times, the Ilonggos proved equal to challenges. They refused to be subdued by the enemy. Its civil government did not surrender to the Japanese. The guerilla warfare waged in Panay won the admiration of America and the world.

Iloilo City received its charter on August 25, 1937 during the American Commonwealth Government in the Philippines.

Though the postwar years were not so kind to Iloilo, the Ilonggos survived and managed to trudge on the road to prosperity. With Iloilo's highly diversified agricultural economy, industrious people and a great tradition for sincerity and genuine warmth, the Ilonggos seem to have little to complain about.

Iloilo is in the center of the Philippine archipelago. Strategically located 283 statute miles from Manila, it is the gateway to the flourishing region that is Western Visayas. The province comprises the southeastern part of Panay Island. Mountain ranges with peaks as high as almost 7,000 ft. provide natural boundaries between Iloilo and Antique on the west and Capiz on the north. The rest of mainland Iloilo is largely plain with interspersing upland portions. Iloilo City, capital of the province is set in graceful repose between Iloilo and Batiano rivers forming the angle of a nose. Hence, its old name "Ilong-Ilong" which means "nose-like."

Iloilo is composed of one chartered city (Iloilo City), one component city (Passi City) and 42 municipalities. It is divided into five (5) congressional districts. It has 1,720 barangays.

Iloilo's climate is pleasantly tropical. It has two pronounced seasons - the rainy season from June to September and the dry season from October to May.

The National Statistics Office reported that Iloilo province has a total population of 1,765,476 and Iloilo City has 309,505, as of the 1990 census.

Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) is the major dialect spoken in Iloilo. English and Tagalog are also widely spoken and understood especially in urban areas. Other languages/dialects used include Aklanon, Apayao, Badjao, Belgian, Bicol, Bilaan, Bontoc, Cebuano, Chavacano, Chinese, French, German, Hindu, Ifugao, Ilocano, Indonesian, Kalinga, Maranao, Pampango, Spanish, Tausog, Itneg and others.

Agriculture is the principal industry. Iloilo's production of rice, sugar, mongo, fish and other major products has placed the province among the country's top agricultural producers. Iloilo has one of the richest fishing grounds in the country and is the site of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center which does researches on the spawning of milkfish and prawns. The University of the Philippines in the Visayas, in Miagao, Iloilo is the center of marine and aquatic studies in the Philippines. The multi-million pesos Iloilo Fish Port is primarily intended to maximize production of inland and deep sea fisheries in Western Visayas. The Iloilo Commercial Port Complex, the first island pier in the Philippines is a multi-purpose port terminal catering to both domestic and foreign containerized and conventional cargoes. Cottage industry in the province includes pottery, ceramics, weaving, woodcraft, handicraft and other complemented crafts.

Iloilo is primarily the commercial trade center of Western Visayas with a lot of commercial, industrial, development and rural banks, financial and investment houses, insurance companies and real estate agencies and developers.

POINTS OF INTEREST IN ILOILO

I. ILOILO CITY

• City Proper - Museo Iloilo, Plaza Libertad, old buildings at Downtown Area, Fort San Pedro, Muelle Loney
• La Villa de Arevalo District - Sinamay dealer, flower gardens, old houses, beaches
• Molo District - Molo Church, Asilo de Molo, old houses, native delicacies
• La Paz District - Native delicacy (batchoy), Datu Puti barter trade
• Jaro District - Jaro Cathedral, ruined belfry, old houses, antique collections, Magdalena Jalandoni residence, native delicacies (biscocho, pinasugbo), flower garden
• Mandurriao District - Iloilo airport, Panay shellcraft, pottery at Hibao-an

II. ILOILO PROVINCE

• Ajuy - Nasidman and Calabasa islands, Punta Buri, hilltop
• Alimodian - old churches, Bundulan Shrine, Agony Hill
• Anilao - Darangkulan Waterfall, Sta. Ana Waterfall, Barangay Dangulaan Camping Hill, Bato Beach Resort, Dumingding cave and spring
• Banate - Spanish railway
• Barotac Nuevo - Lamentao Beach, Iloilo State College of Fisheries, old Roman Catholic Church, Salihid Mountain and Cave (Sambarano Cave, Cinderella Cave, Tisok cave, Lapus-Lapus Cave, Kipot Cave), religious shrines at Mt. Salihid (Hortencia Hill, Clotilde Hill)
• Barotac Viejo - Camp Higher Ground, Nagpana Falls, Balarang Beach, San Roque Beach
• Cabatuan - Cabatuan Church, Japanese fortification
• Carles - Sicogon Island, Isla de Gigantes Norte, Isla de Gigantes Sur, Langub cave, Manigonigo Light House, white beaches
• Dingle - Moroboro Springs (summer resort), Church of Yellow Stone, multi-million peso irrigation dam, Bulabog Putian Park, Lake Bito, Camp Hernandez and Camp Pasipica, Panay Power Plant
• Dumangas - Ruins of the First Stone Church in Panay, Roman Catholic Church, modern fish and prawn ponds, Lacaran Beach, Nalooyan Beach
• Guimbal - Watch towers, beaches, old churches, inland resort and zoo (Racso's Woodland)
• Janiuay - Church ruins, concrete pill boxes on Janiuay Bridge, Janiuay Cemetery, watchtower
• Igbaras - Nadsadan Falls, Tarugan Falls, Tigmaapok Falls, Passi Cave, Igcabucao Cave, Napulac Mountain, Tarawis Hill
• Lambunao - Tinagong Dagat, Ladrido Falls, Montelibano Falls, Maasin Falls, Iloilo National College of Agriculture (INCA), Lambunao Institute of Science & Technology Amphitheater
• Leon - Leon National College of Agriculture, Bucari ranges, Old churches
• Miagao - Fortress church, University of the Philippines in the Visayas, Mt. Napulak
• Oton - Oton Amphitheater Green, Children's playground, hat making, bolo making, hardwood furniture making
• Pavia - Pavia church, turtle power tiller factory, rice thresher factory
• Santa Barbara - Sta. Barbara Church, Iloilo Golf and Country Club, camp site at Cadagmayan Norte
• Sara - San Juan and Puruguan falls, Ardemil Valley
• San Dionisio - Suwa, Calog, Odiongan and Lakdayan beaches, Matagda and Naborot Islands
• San Enrique - Putian Mountain and Mt. Canapasan, Talinab Spring, San Enrique National & Agricultural High School
• San Joaquin - San Joaquin Church, Siwaragan River, Imbidayan Rock in Sinugbuhan, Cataan Cove, Camp Santo at San Joaquin Cemetery, beaches (Talisayan, Tara Etc.)
• San Rafael - Turo-Turo Spring, Apo Dam, Baslayan Zigzag Road, Mt. Lolo
• Tigbauan - Old baroque church, historical marker at Barangay Parara, Southeast Asian Development Center, beaches
• Zarraga - Balut factory in Poblacion Ilaya

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN ILOILO

A. Historical

• Plaza Libertad - Right at the center of Iloilo City; where the flag of the first Philippine Republic was raised in triumph after Spain surrendered Iloilo, her last capital in the islands to the revolutionaries led by Gen. Martin Del Gado on December 25, 1898.
• La Villa de Arevalo - 6 kms. southeast of Iloilo City; seat of the Alcadia of Panay; first Spanish settlement in Panay to be attacked in 1588 by the English privateer, Sir Thomas Cavendish, third circumnavigator of the world.
• Jaro - 3 kms. from the City Proper; old colonial houses of sugar barons and Hispano-Fiilipino houses of the elite still stand; antique shops; seat of Catholicism in Western Visayas.
• Jaro belfry - 3 kms. northwest of Iloilo City Proper; ruined by an earthquake in 1948; one of the few bell towers in the country which stands apart from the church.
• Guimbal watchtowers - 29 kms. southwest of Iloilo City; 5 stone watchtowers called "bantayan" by the natives during the Spanish Era to warn the town's people of marauding pirates.
• Miagao Church - 40 kms. southeast of Iloilo City; built in 1786; native facade; a unique explosion of botanical motif reminiscent of Aztec art; declared a national landmark in 1973 by PD 260.
• Sta. Barbara Church - 16 kms. north of Iloilo City; a neo- classical church where Gen. Martin Delgado of the Visayan Revolutionary Government convened the junta that raised the first cry of revolution against Spain in Iloilo.
• Sta. Barbara Golf Course - 16 kms. north of Iloilo; 18 hole; 37 hectares of golf course which is the oldest in the country; built in 1907.
• San Joaquin Church - 53 kms. southeast of Iloilo City: only church in the Philippines sporting bas relief of historic battle between Christians of Spain and Moors of Morocco in Tuetan in 1859.
• Tigbauan Church - 22 kms. southeast of Iloilo City: baroque facade; behind the rectory was the first Jesuit school for boys in the Philippines established in 1592.
• Panay Liberation Marker - 23 kms. southeast of Iloilo city: commemorates American liberation of Panay from the Japanese in 1945.
• Old Building at Downtown Area - Downtown Iloilo, JM Basa St. or Calle Real boasts of buildings that date back during the Spanish and American colonial periods.
• Muelle Loney - Port of Iloilo named after British Nicholas Loney, Father of the Sugar Industry of Panay and Negros. Considered one of the safest harbors because of Guimaras Island that protects it from drastic winds; first opened to foreign trade in 1855.
• Molo District - called Parian in the old days. It was the Chinese quarters of La Villa de Arevalo; Athens of the Philippines; has produced many intellectual and political leaders.
• Spanish Bailiwick, Brgy. Carmelo - 300 meters from Banate town proper; a historical landmark known as the hiding place of the Spanish authorities from the Moros.
• Japanese Fortification, Cabatuan - Concrete structure during the Japanese occupation. Built on a hill 20 ft. high with a diameter of 9 feet. Used as a lookout by the Japanese soldiers guarding the road and the approach to the airfield in Tiring, Cabatuan. Walls are still intact.
• Guimbal Church - Yellow sandstone church built by Fr. Campos; Spanish-Filipino vintage towers and stone walled cemetery built by Fr. Agustin Llorente.
• Janiuay Church - Ruins of the beautiful church at the town's plaza where it had been built. Bells of JD Reyna foundry in Iloilo in 1871 and 1898 are still in use.
• Concrete Pillboxes - Built by the Japanese forces during the war rise on both ends of Janiuay bridge on the way to Lambunao. One is about 25 ft. tall with a diameter of 9 feet. Both pillboxes are intact. These were manned by Japanese soldiers who were later flushed out by Filipino guerillas; barely 1 km. from Janiuay town proper.
• Siwaragan River - According to legend, the ten Bornean datus landed here in the middle of the 13th century and bought the island of Panay with a beaten gold hat and long necklace from the negrito Chieftain, Marikudo, long before the Indians sold Manhattan to European settlers. With the Barter of Panay, the Negritos decided to live in the mountains while the Malays occupied the lowlands.
• Cabatuan Church - Neo-classical; built in early 1880s; every side is a facade in itself; walls are overlaid with brick.
• Fort San Pedro - built by the Spaniards in the early 1600s; attacked by Dutch, British, American and Japanese troops; birthplace of the first Filipino commercial air transportation, the Iloilo-Negros Air Express Co., founded by the Lopez brothers on February 3, 1933.
• Molo Church - 3 kms. from the city proper; gothic Rennaissance Church of coral rock; completed in the 1800s; two rows of female saints line both sides of the church.
• Jaro Cathedral - 3 kms. from the City Proper; seat of the Jaro Archbisphoric embracing Westerns Visayas.
• Janiuay Cemetery - famous Hispano-Filipino cemetery built in 1875 of cut stone and fossil rock sprawling on a hilltop with 3 imposing stairways and two gothic doors; 32 kms. from Iloilo City.
• Pavia Church - 13 kms. northwest of Iloilo City; red brick church of Byzantine style built by Spanish Agustinians and used as garrison by the Japanese who drew guerilla raids that pockmarked the walls.
• San Joaquin Cemetery - 53 kms. southwest of Iloilo City; built in 1892 of coral rock; a hexagonal chapel crowns a 20 step staircase flanked by stone ballustrades; rose windows at the main entrance.

CULTURAL

• Museo Iloilo - a repository of Iloilo's cultural heritage; exhibits include scientifically dated fossils, shells and rocks indicating the age of Panay Island. Stone age flake tools; native pottery; ornamental teeth; jewelry excavated from pre-Spanish burial sites and trade pottery from China, Annam and Siam; secondary burial coffins found in forbidden cave; rare pictures, mementos and relics of wars; relics from a British sunken ship; Spanish period Filipino sculpture; and modern art by Ilonggo artists.
• Antique Collections - collection of Philippine colonial sculpture, wood, stone and ivory saints. Chinese porcelain wares and other artifacts.

INDUSTRIAL

• Cement Bulk Terminal of Davao Union Cement Corp. - first innovation of its kind in the country; provides economic opportunities.

NATURAL

• Sicogon Island - a 1,104-hectare white sand palm-fringed island gradually sloping down to some 350 feet beyond the shoreline; 5 kms. from the town proper of Estancia; 137 kms. northeast of Iloilo City.
• Isla de Gigantes - where 15th century burial caves are still found. One cave has a stone elephant and a natural swimming pool; 12 kms. east of Estancia.
• Nadsadjan Falls - In igbaras, 39 kms. souuthwest of Iloilo City; a 50-foot high falls dropping on a giant cauldron-like natural swimming pool.
• Tinagong Dagat - a lake situated in a plateau surrounded by rolling hills of Lambunao, Iloilo; 73 kms. north of Iloilo City.
• Cataan Cove - In San Joaquin town, 60 kms. southwest of Iloilo City; has beautiful marine garden; ideal for scuba diving.
• Punta Buri - Brgy. Punta Buri, 6 nautical miles from Ajuy poblacion; ideal spot for day and night swimming.
• Darangkulan Waterfall - In Sitio Bagingbong, Brgy. Balabag, 8 kms. from the town proper of Ajuy; lush vegetation; situated at the foot of Mt. Manyakiya, the highest peak in the municipality.
• Nagpana Falls - 12 kms. from Barotac Viejo poblacion; swimming hideaway overlooking beautiful sceneries; forest abundant with wildlife; ideal place for hunting. Near it is the place where aetas (cultural minority group) live.
• Moroboro Springs - Located in Dingle town, 41 kms. from Iloilo City; has swimming pools fed by the springs. There are pavilions for excursionists.
• Tinagong Dagat - A lake situated at the outskirts of Lambunao, Iloilo near the Iloilo-Antique boundary; 16 kms. from the poblacion or about 25 kms. from the Iloilo National College of Agriculture (INCA) campus by mountain trail; 2,000 ft. above sea level; surrounded by 40 hectares of rolling hills; abounds with eels, edible snails, carps and other fish species.
• Mt. Napulac - 60 kms. from Iloilo City or 5 kms. from Agdum, Miagao town's nearest barangay to its base; has virginal foress and abundant wild life.
• San Juan Falls - 6.2 kms. from Sara town proper; a series of falls and pools located in a valley of lush vegetation; accessible by road; approximately 100 ft. high.

Note: Off Iloilo's northern coast from the town proper of Concepcion to the town of Carles are many more islets of which Sicogon, Gigantes, Agho and Pan de Azucar have the most outstanding tourism potentials. Unexploited, unspoiled and lushly vegetated, they are peopled by simple folks engaged in elemental pursuits of living. The fine white sand, hilly uplands, almost unlimited fresh water, virgin forests, rare and exotic fauna are the islands' many splendored assets.

OTHER FESTIVALS

ILOILO CITY

Paraw Regatta - a race among native outriggers in the Iloilo Strait between Guimaras Island and Iloilo City. Holding is movable, but usually during the windy months of March and April.

Fireworks Display and Contest - an annual celebration held every 3rd Sunday of January highlighting the district fiesta of Arevalo District, 6 kms. from the Iloilo City Proper.

Feast of Our Lady of Candles - The Feast of Our Lady of Candles or Nestra Se¤ora de la Candelaria is the biggest and the most opulent religious pageantry in Western Visayas. It is celebrated on February 2, but related activities, like agro-industrial fair and carnival shows, would even start in the middle of the Dinagyang Festival in the 4th weekend of January.

Santacruzan Festival - celebrated in Sta. Cruz, Arevalo on April 24 to May 31. It features Flores de Mayo which include, among others, a display of local art, four grand processions and a contest of massive arches.

District Fiestas

Arevalo - 3rd Sunday of January

Jaro - February 2

La Paz - May 24

Mandurriao - November 26

Molo - July 26

ILOILO PROVINCE

Pasungay - San Joaquin, 2nd Saturday of January; a festival of the bulls in a pasungay (bullfight). It opens the thrilling season of festivals in Western Visayas.
Carabao Carroza Race - Pavia, every May 1, where the carabao is King for a Day. It features a race among carabaos, each pulling a bamboo sled called carroza.

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Sinamay Dealer at Osmeña St., Arevalo, Iloilo City. For three centuries now delicate jusi and pi¤a cloths have been loom-woven and hand-embroidered for export to Manila and foreign countries.

Flower Gardens at Arevalo, Iloilo City - Arevalo is the flower village of Iloilo City for supplies of leis, corsages, wreaths, bouquets and potted plants.

Asilo de Molo - Orphanage where princely vestments worn by church dignitaries on special occasions are made. Beautiful barongs, handkerchiefs of piña and jusi and many more are made, designed and hand-embroidered by orphan girls under close supervision of the nuns.

NATIVE DELICACIES

Panaderia de Molo - assorted biscuits

Pancit Molo - famous flat noodle soup, originally made by Chinese culinary artists in the late 18th century.

La Paz Batchoy - famous noodle dish originally made in the district of La Paz. (Jan. 21, 2003 issue)

Dinagyang will be safe: Treñas

MAYOR Jerry P. Treñas Wednesday gave his assurance that this year's Dinagyang festivities will be safe.

"We're doing our best to ensure that there will be no problems as regards the security of our visitors," he declared, following his meeting with the City Peace and Order Council Wednesday.

"The Philippine National Police (PNP) has assured me that they are ready with the security arrangements for the Dinagyang," he added.

Treñas said the Police Regional Office (PRO) 6 has assured the Iloilo City Police Office of augmentation forces from the regional office.

"The PNP assured me that the augmentation forces the ICPO has asked will arrive," he stressed.

This is aside from two teams of bomb and drug-sniffing dogs set to arrive.

The teams, said Treñas, were promised by PNP Chief Hermogenes Ebdane earlier.

"All these we are doing to assure our public that our Dinagyang will be very safe for everyone," he pointed out.

He also warned people who plan on bringing weapons or firearms during the revelry.

"There will be a lot of plainclothes police personnel. They will be conducting random frisks among the crowd. So if you get caught, you will be imprisoned," Treñas said sternly, adding there will be plenty of cops around during the celebrations.

On Jan. 17 will be the opening salvo for the Dinagyang. Sources say that the police will be conducting a dry-run of their security plan on that day. (Jan. 16, 2003 issue)

Dinagyang: A Never-ending Metamorphosis
By Wenceslao E. Mateo Jr.

DINAGYANG 2003 is fast approaching. Only a little over a month from now in January 2003. And the thought of it already wafts high expectations, even as the Christmas season still absorbs so much of our thoughts for a fulfilling yuletide.

Just like for this year's Dinagyang, or the one before it, and so on. Rightly so, as each time brings new and more exciting things. But how so?

One of the most exciting and beautiful gifts of nature to man and the environment is the butterfly.

Whether it stalks the discriminating eye with an arresting dominant color or in a dazzling color mix, it always lends a mark of distinction on anything it touches in a garden or in the range beyond with its comeliness.

Just like a medal or pelt of citation to an honoree that strikes him with overwhelming bliss and reassuring self-esteem.

Such, as it comes to a beholder with its engaging color, affable petiteness, dauntless hopping from flower to flower even in the most fearsome environment for one its size and slow escape movement, and all that makes for an awesome presence.

But if we are fascinated by its charming sight as an adult insect, we should be more fascinated by the metamorphosis it goes through to adulthood.

It first comes as an egg on a leaf. But just as when we thought a wing-flopping thing would come out of the shell after its incubation with Mother Sun, we would get the surprise of our lives. It's a wingless larva or caterpillar, instead! This rather strange thing peeps out and wiggles like a long express train toward the first fresh leaf on sight to make its first feeding. And when you start venturing in your mind that it would soon grow its wings, the grub just keeps on growing, unchanging with the same anatomy even as it moults or sheds its skin many times.

But don't give up yet. And take that step back from the edge. For just as we start to think the egg we've been very curious about is not that of a butterfly, the grub invites us to a hide-and-seek game.

Suddenly, it's gone, that is, we no longer see that soft wormlike thing. And we wonder if it is inside the pupa hanging from a twig near the leaves where it would go about its gastronomic activities. We're right! It is in that pupa or chrysalis, as known for butterflies, easing out of the scene like a dying ember into liquid existence to take on and emerge in a new form. This new form is the final being - the butterfly, at last! Striking us with its unique charm in the environment! Dishing out poetry from one flower to flower. The philandering thing!

But the same sight, though how captivating, before us never excites perpetually. Soon, it will be overwhelmed by something else, something new. At a time when, perhaps, we might just be interested, for a change, to know why a DRAGONfly is such a fearsome thing in name.

A dragon, in ancient stories, is a vicious creature that spews fire like a modern-day flamethrower, armed with swordlike claws, flies with wide bony wings with piercing tips and razorlike edges, and a mouth that can crush a huge crocodile. But does that description fit the dragonfly? And as we wonder, we take on a new learning adventure away from the butterfly.

DINAGYANG, this year, and each year after 1970 when the first annual street competitions and pageantry started, may be likened to a butterly in beauty and excitement as it goes through the various stages of its existence before it ends up and persists to be the full butterfly that it is by then and "...forever more."

The familiar "Hala Bira!" whoop and attention-snaring drooling sound of drums will always be there. So will the soot-painted warriors be in the war-dance competitions and the sprightly chaps and damsels in the mardi gras or cultural street show that snarl out into denouement in a sea of street merrymakers trying to drown themselves in heady activities and ingestions before they return home to get the last of it in their dreams, unless they simply collapse into their soundest sleep ever in their yearlong wait for the next Dinagyang festivities.

Yes! But unlike the butterfly on its final beingness, Dinagyang is never the same thing. For it takes on a never-ending metamorphosis as each year promises to be something new and special, so that there is nothing else in the environment that can pluck it out from the sights and ears of an excitement-hungry public.

DINAGYANG, indeed, is there to keep us, and our guests, ever on a new stage of excitement. Dinagyang 2003 peaks on January 25-26 of that year after a sloshing promise of the best of things during the Pamukaw (Wake Up Call) on December 6, 2002 at the Freedom Grandstand.

The more significant activities, however, will start ushering in on January 10, 2003 with the Opening of Exhibits and Trade Fair of the Sto. Ni¤o at the SM City Activity Center.

Be there where you've never been so excited before. Come. Visit us in Iloilo City for Dinagyang 2003. (Sun.Star Iloilo)

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