This year is gearing up to be the year of Filipino festivals as everyone looks forward to the resumption of festivities following over 2 years of COVD-19 ennui.
The province of Isabela is no exception and this year’s Bambanti Festival saw Isabeleños come to the provincial capitol in droves, eager to take part in the several events lined up by the provincial government.
Isabela is considered to be an agricultural center of the country, being the largest producer of rice and corn in the Philippines. However, the province offers so much more and this is highlighted by the Bambanti Village.
The grounds of the provincial capitol in Ilagan City was transformed into a village with each town and city of the province putting up a booth showcasing their products.
The booths were designed to highlight what each town offered, from the coastal harvests of the town of Divilacan, to the corn fields of Ilagan, to the fruits and vegetables of the towns situated near the Cordilleras.
The eco-booths were paired with giant scarecrows, locally known as bambanti from which the festival was named after. These massive scarecrows served to highlight the products of each town. One scarecrow was made solely out of dried fish while another used different colors of corn kernels to give it life.
For many visitors, visiting the Bambanti Village was an opportunity to try out new products that they would not have been able to find.
Manolo Icban, a resident of Naguilian said that he was surprised by the number of drinks made by the different towns in the province. “Meroong mga gawa sa gatas ng kalabaw, sa tsokolate, meroon ding mga gawa sa kalamansi, luya, at iba pang gulay. Masasarap sila at hindi ko inakalan a may mga ganito palang produkto na gawa ng mga Isabeleños,” he shared.
Isabela’s agricultural bounty was also highlighted in the Makan Ken Mainum food and drinks competition.
However, this year’s event was different. Instead of having seasoned professionals be the representatives for each town, the competition organizers instead opted to have kids take center stage.
Makan Ken Mainum co-chair chef Cocoy Ventura said that this decision was made in order to allow kids to join the festivities following a long period of being stuck in their homes due to quarantine restrictions.
A Filipino festival would not be complete without a beauty pageant and this year’s Queen Isabela Beauty Pageant continued the trend on the focus on agriculture.
The contestants were grilled by the panel of judges on their thoughts on the country’s agricultural issues and how it can be resolved. One contestant was asked on how she could encourage the younger generation to choose a career in agriculture to address the decreasing number of farmers in the country. Another was asked on why the Philippines is still struggling to have a sustained and advanced agricultural sector when it was dubbed an agricultural country prior to shift to an industrial nation.
The street parade was the highlight of the Bambanti Festival. The Ilagan City Sports Complex becomes an explosion of colors as contingents from the different towns and cities of the province dance their way around the track oval to the driving beat of the festival anthems. Once near the crowd, each contingent performs a short routine to the appreciative roar of the audience.
As night falls, performers take to the stage in a choreographed presentation. Some towns performed an artistic rendition of local folklore, while others showed how the pandemic affected their towns and how they stood up after such as painful experience.
