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BY RESEL JOY TIANERO
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Monday, January 23, 2017
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ILOILO City – “This was more than I expected.”
That was Police Officer 1 Glen Nazareno of Cadiz City in Negros Occidental talking about the Kasadyahan cultural contest of the Dinagyang Festival on Saturday.
He said he enjoyed the visual spectacle a lot.
This was Nazareno’s first time to witness the Kasadyahan – and Dinagyang for that matter. He was one of around 500 policemen from Negros Occidental deployed to this city on Saturday and Sunday to help keep the Dinagyang Festival peaceful and orderly.
“There were so many participating tribes. It was a celebration,” Nazareno told Panay News.
The Kasadyahan had nine competing contingents this year. It was a battle of local festivals in Western Visayas.
According to Grade 10 student Kathleen Alisanan, she had a lot of fun.
“This year’s Kasadyahan was more exciting than last year’s. There were more tourists, too,” said the Mandurriao district resident and student of Colegio de las Hijas de Jesus.
Yes, said Alisanan, she had been watching the Dinagyang since she was a young girl.
It was the first time of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia-based photojournalist Abdul Rhman to witness Dinagyang, too.
“Vivid” and “colorful” were how he described the Kasadyahan. He took photos of the competing tribes.
“It’s beautiful and the people…the way they perform is amazing. It’s the best time to take pictures. The angling is perfect,” said Rhman.
Meanwhile, Hector Abay thanked the good weather during the Kasadyahan. The state weather bureau previously issued a forecast that the weekend festivities would be gloomy.
A staff at the General Services Office of the Iloilo provincial capitol, Abay also cited the police for keeping the Kasadyahan peaceful and orderly.
For sidewalk vendor Michael Yap, on the other hand, the Kasadyahan was a chance to make some money. He sold festival souvenir items such as Dinagyang masks, key chains and bracelets.
Yap was from Bacolod City and had been selling festival souvenir items since 2002. He said he also peddled festival trinkets in Kalibo, Aklan during the Ati-Atihan Festival and in Cebu during the Sinulog Festival, among other places.
Marivel Matulac, was a vendor, too, but she wasn’t as ebullient of the Kasadyahan as Yap. Business was not good, she said.
Matulac, from San Rafael, Iloilo, managed a food kiosk on Bonifacio Drive near the Iloilo provincial capitol.
“Sang first night indi man gid bakal kay damo man kami abi,” said Matulac.
Traffic aide Elmer Duyas, on the other hand, observed the Kasadyahan crowed this year to be thinner than in previous editions of the cultural contest.
Assigned at the Kasadyahan performance area No. 2 (Iloilo provincial capitol), Duyas also said the number of competing contingents was dwindling.
“Basi sa sunod wala na ina,” he said./PN
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