ILOILO City – Female inmates of the Iloilo District Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo will take part in the Dinagyang sa Calle Real on Jan. 25, 2020, a new feature of the Dinagyang Festival.
No, the inmates won’t be joining this Saturday morning merrymaking event confined on the whole stretch of JM Basa Street in the City Proper. They will be making the costumes of the drummers of participating barangays/tribes.
The Iloilo District Jail has some 200 inmates, according to Jose Layson Jr., co-chairman of Iloilo Festivals Foundation, Inc.’s (IFFI) New and Special Events Group.
The city government has tasked IFFI to handle the 2020 edition of Dinagyang.
Layson said the inmates would be weaving or sewing the costumes designed by Ilonggo artists.
He also clarified that Dinagyang sa Calle Real is not a contest but “purely a merrymaking activity for the people.”
Nevertheless, Layson said, the IFFI will be giving subsidy to participating tribes.
So far, 10 barangay-based tribes have confirmed their participation. These are Aninipay, Molave, Parianon, Hamili, Panaad, Angola, Sagrada, Milagrosa, Kanyaw, and Bolilaonon – each with 40 drummers.
The inmates would thus be making some 400 drummer costumes.
The merrymaking will start at 8:30 a.m. and end by around noon.
Dinagyang sa Calle Real is the activity replacing the Kasadyahan, a contest among various homegrown festivals in Western Visayas held a day before the Dinagyang ati tribes competition.
The IFFI has decided to do away with Kasadyahan. The Department of Tourism supported the decision.
There is a proposal to stage the Kasadyahan every September, the National Tourism Month.
“Kasadyahan should be distinct from Dinagyang. It must have its own identity,” said Tourism regional director Helen Catalbas.
Kasadyahan has leveled up through the years, she said, noting the improvements in the competing contingents’ choreographies, costumes, music, props, and concepts.
The Kasadyahan cultural contest was conceptualized by local residents and the provincial government of Iloilo a few years after the birth of Dinagyang Festival. But it actually started as out as mardi gras. The participants were schools and private organizations./PN
