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SUNDAY, JANUARY 28, 2018
There is one thing Isabeleoñs are undeniable about, their ardent love for their Motherland.
Ergo, the annual Bambanti Festival was again live this year, in all its vibrancy and warmth of welcome bearing the theme “ISABELA KONG MAHAL” (Isabela, My Beloved Land).
Organized by the Provincial Government of Isabela, the Bambanti Festival is a tourism, trade, and environment project aiming to develop, promote, and market Isabeleños’ world-class indigenous products, lifestyle, merchandise items, and cuisine as the pride of province.
Bambanti Festival 2018, celebrated from January 22 – 27, focuses on Isabeleños’ warm traits for their beloved land, care and protection for their national resources and environment, love and respect for the culture, history, and heritage of the community, and consistent efforts for a sustainable agriculture and all other industries.
The theme “ISABELA KONG MAHAL” depicts Isabeleños strong commitment to their beloved land and outstanding virtue of hard work, proudly sharing to its visitors how their family-inherited traits contributed to the fast-growing socio-cultural and economic development of the province through various creative concepts and images.
Apart from being the Ilocano word for scarecrow, Bambanti is also the name of the award-winning annual festival of Isabela Province. Of course it makes sense that the colorful Bambanti is the mascot and icon of the Bambanti Festival, which begins today January 22 and end on Saturday, January 27.
With events like are street dances, showdown competitions, street performances, a search for Bambanti Festival King and Queen, and the most important – at least in our book – the Isabela’s Master Kusinero Cooking Contest, Bambanti Festival aims to highlight the province’s rich cultural heritage, lifestyle, products, and food.
Taking home the Best Festival Practices and Performance Aliw Awards from 2015-2017, it’s safe to say that the local government of Isabela has been doing a good job.
From last year’s “Isabela Para sa Daigdig”, the theme for this year's Bambanti Festival is “Isabela Kong Mahal”, depicting Isabeleños’ ardent love for the love of their province. — LA, GMA News
Although named after a Spanish queen, the province of Isabela celebrates yearly the lowly scarecrow, which despite being inanimate, has been a “friend” to farmers in many parts of the world, including the Philippines, for generations.
The scarecrow or bambanti in Ilocano, the predominant language in the second northernmost province, has been the low-technology protector of farmlands from birds that would otherwise devastate agricultural crops.
Not surprisingly, for Isabela, self-proclaimed center of agriculture in the country, the bambanti represents the best of the province and her people—silent but vigilant and resilient.
The Agri-Ecotourism Fair this year was participated in by majority of Isabela’s 34 municipalities and three cities, including the capital Ilagan.
Isabela enthusiastically pursues the one town-one product (OTOP) campaign initiated by then President Fidel V. Ramos.
This was evident in the offerings of every booth in the agri-ecotourism fair including chocolate-scented pinilisan red rice, corn (Isabela is reputedly the country’s corn capital), sugar, cacao, monggo and other legumes, mushrooms, mangoes, ube, and various rice cakes.
The distinctive products of each town were also showcased in the giant bambanti that “guarded” the agri-tourism booths. Beans and legumes, rice, corn, seashells and many other materials went into the making of the different scarecrows, depending on the main crop or product of the town or city they represented.
