2019 Haw-as sa Dumangas, Part 2

(This article continues from Monday the details of the Haw-as Festival weeklong schedule. The 2019 Haw-as Festival starts this Saturday, Oct. 26 in Dumangas, Iloilo.)

I SERIOUSLY recommend all the events of the Oct. 27 WAFA Con (Writers, Artists, Filmmakers, and Artisans Convention) during the Haw-as Festival. 

But as a writer, I want everybody to be inspired in the poetry workshop as we discover and push for better poetry in the new millennium.

I think we have done well with traditional poetry.

I think we have improved a lot since learning formalist poetry in the last century.

But there are more distances to go.

Come, learn more about the possibilities of poetry (and literature) in this new century.

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Following the poetry workshop and all things literary, we will have the 7th year running of the Peter’s Prize awards ceremony at 7pm.

It will be followed by the 1st Peter Solis Nery Foundation International Film Festival at 8pm.

19 three-minute silent films will be screened.

Plus or minus my full-length film Gugma sa Panahon sang Bakunawa which is also celebrating its seventh year anniversary this year.

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It’s “plus or minus” because we will put on the movie for those who want to stay, but we will not hold it against the audience if they leave to enjoy the beer and the band outside the gymnasium.

The admission price for the whole film fest screening is P20. 

The P20 will also entitle the paying public to attend and experience the more literary Peter’s Prize program.

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For those less literary, alternative to the poetry workshop is the Sikpanay sa Punong at 3pm, which will be held at Brgy. Ermita.

This is a fun actual get-in-the-mud-and-catch-the-bangus experience.

Go have fun.

But get to the Dumangas Gymnasium before 8pm for The PSNFIFF silent films.

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Monday, Oct 28  the 119th Liberation of Dumangas and Cry for Freedom & Liberty.

It’s a short commemoration program followed by the Binalaybay and Composo contest on the life of the local war hero Col. Quintin Salas at 10am.

At 7pm, there’s the Autoshow at the gymnasium.

The last time I attended this event, I saw pimped out cars that are prettier than the fast and the furious.

The Pre-pageant of the Haw-as Festival Queen competition will be at the St. Augustine Catholic School’s auditorium this year.

The talent competition will start at 7:30pm. 

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For Dumangasanons, there’s a job fair at the gymnasium in the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 29.

But according to Municipal Tourism Consultant Leonardo Quiachon, and Public Employment Service Office manager Jephony Derequito, it is open to the public. 

So, come to Dumangas to enjoy the Haw-as Festival, and go home with a (local or overseas) job if you are lucky.

I actually like the idea.

Although I prefer the jobs going mainly to my town-mates. Haha.

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At 7pm of Oct. 29, the ISCOF Dumangas Campus auditorium plays host to the musical concert of two bands: I Belong to the Zoo, and (!) This Band.

The title of the concert is I Belong to This Band. Haha.

Tickets start at P200 for general admission, but there’s P500 for silver, and P800 for gold admissions.

It’s P1,000 for VIP.

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The Educators’ Day this year will be celebrated with Laro ng Lahi, a traditional games friendly match among teachers in the municipality of Dumangas.

It will be held at the gymnasium from 8am of Oct. 30.

And the day will be capped by the coronation pageant of the Search for Haw-as Festival Queen at 7pm.

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Oct. 31 is the big day with the Haw-as festival Guban/Tribe completion at 2pm.

There will be four judging areas in the poblacion, so come early to choose your vantage point.

Five competing groups/guban will showcase their performances in the most colorful costumes and amazing choreography based on haw-as fishing and farming movements, and likely to include historical and cultural notes of life in Dumangas.

This is a free event.

For the 31st, the Oktoberfest and food fest will extend from the regular nightly midnight curfew to 6am in the morning. 

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For the marathoners among us, there will be the Run for Quintin Salas, an annual running event that starts at 5am of Oct. 31.

3-kilometer run for women, and 5K for men.

There will be on-the-spot and on-the-day registration at the gymnasium starting 4am.

At 8am, we commemorate Col. Quintin Salas’s 147th birth anniversary with a service and floral offering.

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And finally, the Sangguniang Kabataang Federation of Dumangas will sponsor Ligum Dulom, the Dumangasanon version of Halloween party.

So dress up, parade, and vamp.

Meet people in costume and party on the streets.

Admission price for gymnasium event is P20.

It’s always fun, fun, fun in Dumangas. (500tinaga@gmail.com/PN)