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.
Looks like the year of the wood horse is actually the banner year of the municipality of Luna!
What started as a let’s-just-have-some-fun participation in the 2014 Bambanti Festival competitions ended up in Luna’s romping away with the over-all championship in the municipal category besting bigger and more affluent LGUs, certainly no small feat for what is considered as one of the smaller towns in the country’s second largest province.
While Mayor Jimmy Atayde attributes the victory to the remarkable work ethic and excellent teamwork among the creative team, the latter insists they certainly could not have done it without the hands-on, multitasking local chief executive who juggled governance and involvement in the creative process,
Intricately designed and jazzed-up giant scarecrows once again lorded it over the Bambanti Village, like royal guards in the Isabela Provincial Capitol, where thousands of spectators trooped to take part in this year’s BAMBANTI FESTIVAL, the premier festival of the province of Isabela. The lowly bambanti is feted because it best represents the most remarkable attributes of the Isabeleños, propelling the province to its present status as the country’s number one grains producer and fast emerging agriculture capital of the Philippines.
Governor Faustino G. Dy III, under whose watch, the province is undergoing a cultural renaissance of sorts, shares that the bambanti serves as the ultimate symbol of the diligence, industry, vigilance and resilience of the people of Isabela. “Kahit ano pang unos o pagsubok ang dumating sa ating buhay, nananatili tayong matatag, nakatayo at di natitinag katulad ng bambanti.”
Even the Republic of Korea acknowledges Isabela’s tremendous agricultural prowess and its provincial government’s remarkable climate change adaptation initiatives.
A high level delegation from the Korean Embassy led by Ambassador Lee Hyuk joined Sen. Grace Poe, Gov. Faustino Dy III, Vice Gov. Antonio Albano, Cong. Rodito Albano, DA Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat and other local officials in gracing the groundbreaking ceremony for the “Adapting to Climate Change Impact through the Construction of Water Impounding Facilities in the Philippines” or Pasa Small River Irrigation Project (PSRIP) on July 4, 2013 in Barangay Pasa, Ilagan City.
