Albano to push for Bambanti FestiValley next year
Euphoric over the unprecedented success of the 2014 Bambanti Festival, Governor Faustino Dy III and Festival Execom Chair Vice Governor Tonypet Albano are proposing the holding of a regional scarecrow festival next year, and they already have a name for it – Bambanti FestiValley.
Coined by Luna Mayor Jimmy Atayde, FestiValley is a play of words which wittingly captures the essence of a single festival for the five provinces of the Cagayan Valley region – Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino, a move fast gaining ground among tourism and local officials.
“The Bambanti is not only a symbol of the diligence, industry, vigilance and resilience of the people of Isabela, it also personifies the agricultural heritage of the rest of the Cagayan Valley region,” Dy asserts. “Sana’y maging simbolo ng pagkakaisa ng mga mamamayan ng mga lalawigang bumubuo sa Lambak ng Cagayan ang ating Bambanti.”
In March 2011, the first ever scarecrow festival of Region II was held at the SMC Convention Center in celebration of twenty years of the National Trade Fair focused on the theme pappabalo or thanksgiving Cagayan Valley debuted as the NTF’s first ever fiesta region.
Isabela took the lead in the initiative and made a very impressive showing with its officials, personnel and local performers coming full force for a rare opportunity to showcase the province’s rich cultural heritage and immense potentials for tourism and investments.
In fact it was on the basis of Isabela’s impressive participation in the 2011 NTF that it was chosen by DTI and CITEM to represent the Philippines to the 10th China-ASEAN Expo held in September last year in Nanning, China. Isabela was City of Charm while the Philippines was the Country of Honor.
