Dinagyang fever grips Ilonggos

I was in Iloilo Wednesday and got caught in a terrible traffic jam along Iznart street on the way to the pier to catch the Weessam ferry back to Bacolod in the afternoon. But there was something that caught my attention — a tabloid headline which read "Dinagyang Fever."

Yes, Iloilo is abuzz with talk about Dinagyang and the many sights visitors see upon their arrival here. And starting yesterday, the annual tourism attraction of Western Visayas’ regional capital reaches its climax.

A similar fever has gripped Ibajay and other smaller towns in Aklan since a few weeks ago. As usual, the festivities are in honor of Sto. Niño. "Hala Bira" is the clarion call, an invitation to celebrate the festival.

On Wednesday, I saw how the Ilonggos have put their best foot forward to make this year’s Dinagyang memorable. And Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas has not pulled any stop to the preparations to make sure that invited guests have fun during their stay here.

For that matter, much as I tried to pull strings to land a hotel accommodation, the only thing I could solicit was a reservation at the Lourdes Hall, a pension house with a room for six people.

Not that I don’t have relatives in the city. But I normally prefer not to saddle my kin with my unscheduled forays. Mia Lopez, daughter of my cousin Graciano Lopez, invited me to stay at their residence. I said that I already had my reservation.

But as a trustee of the Dr. Graciano Lopez Jaena Foundation, I am supposed to attend to the group’s special meeting with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. That’s the other thing that caught my attention. Perhaps, it is security that may have prevented city authorities from announcing the President’s visit. She is supposed to join the Dinagyang tomorrow.

And, yes, she will even present an award to Regional Development Council chairwoman and Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez.

But then security considerations also prevent me from further mentioning more about the flying visit of the Chief Executive. With all the talk about coups and reportedly an assassination plot, one just can’t be too careful.

SM presentation

One of the most exciting events of Dinagyang is the series of activities and exhibits at the sprawling SM City here. Actually the SM City’s activities started on Jan. 24.

Still, the culminating events will start today with the Dinagyang Food Festival at SM City. And yes, the street party dubbed as "Party Overload," which starts at 4 p.m. at the SM City car park. Several of Manila’s prominent bands and artists will party with Ilonggos at SM City.

GMA-7 will present KiliTV and its All Star K Caravan. These will include Wendell Ramos, Maureen Larrazabal, Alicia Mayer, Bearwin Meily, Polo Ravales and Brenan Espartinez.

Bombo Radyo will not be left behind. It will feature Kitchie Nadal, Ethel Booba and Session Road at 6 p.m.

At 3 p.m. yesterday, the participants of the fluvial procession and foot parade assembled at Fort San Pedro and the Iloilo Custom House.

The fluvial parade is actually one of the most picturesque sights of the Dinagyang Festival. Nothing can beat the multi-colored buntings of motorboats (there are only a few sailboats) as they snake through the Iloilo River filled with celebrating throngs of people clad in their Sunday best.

The usual signs are, of course, the various "tribus" participating in the foot parade.

Later on, in the religious aspect of the celebration of Sto. Niño, children, pregnant women, and Sto. Niño images will be blessed at the San Jose Parish Church, the center of the religious celebration of the Holy Infant Jesus.

Today, the festivities start with the dawn procession with the images of Mary, Mother of Jesus, joining it, too. At 6 p.m., there will be the concelebrated High Mass at Fort San Pedro. Then at 7 p.m. is the Kasadyahan Mass at the San Jose Parish Church.

Drum beats reverberate all over the city but especially in front of the Freedom Grandstand as the various tribes participating in the Dinagyang contest start displaying their choreographed dances.

The solemn procession of the Sto. Niño starts at 4:30 p.m., followed in the evening by the "sad-sad," a one-hour dancing and signing of petitions with candles lit and images of the Sto. Niño in front of the San Jose Parish Church.

Tomorrow, Sunday, post the solemn concelebrated Mass of Dinagyang Ati-Ati tribes at the San Jose Church, the Dinagyang Ati competition will start at 8 a.m. This is the most eye-catching part of the festival.

Well, it is one time when I may end up in Iloilo City instead of my favorite haunt — Ibajay. For several years, I never missed Ibajay’s Ati-ati. The reason: it was the hometown of my late wife, Dr. Lourdes L. Espina. And I am always entranced as to how the town has managed to retain the pristine quality of its religious and cultural tribute to the Sto. Niño.

This, in spite of the commercialization of certain groups or even the advertisements of giant corporations. Instead, Ibajaynons have remained true to their tradition of presenting indigenous products of their respective villages. And, yes, they bring along poles with wrapped food on one end which parade-watchers can ask for if they wish to partake of it.

Yes, these twin festivals more or less wind up the month-long tribute to the Sto. Niño, including the Cadiz City Ati-atihan.

The court war

On Wednesday, I had a prolonged meeting with the officers of the Save Our Language through Federalism. This was when Paolo Guanco, a councilor of Pototan town of Iloilo, agreed to be the provincial head of SOLFED for Iloilo. Also present were Guimaras’ Richard Cezar and Ma. Judith Palu-ay Buyco, SOLFED’s Panay coordinator.

Then, lawyer Leopoldo Causing of the West Visayas State University informed us that Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas has categorically committed himself to federalism.

And there was also the report that Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas and the members of the League of Cities of the Philippines have stood pat on their opposition to the proposal to do away with the 2007 elections. The league had their meeting presided over by Treñas in Iloilo City during the weekend.

I then learned about the petition for mandamus filed by the nursing graduates of the West Negros College asking the court to order the Professional Regulations Commission to release the withheld results of their examinations.

The 400 WNC graduates, mostly second-coursers, are represented by lawyer Nilia Jesusa Gonzales, herself a graduate of the WNC nursing program.

Named respondents in the suit were Dr. Leonor Tripon-Rosero, and Board of Nursing chairwoman Dr. Eufemia Octaviano and members Remedios Fernandez, Letty Juan, and Anesia Dionisio.

Judge Guiljie Delfin-Lim gave the respondents 10 days to answer the petition.

Lawyer Leon Moya, WNC legal counsel, said the matter of overloading which the PRC has invoked as its reason for withholding the exam results has been looked into by the Commission on Higher Education. CHED reportedly approved it because many of the students were second-coursers.

In short, Moya contended that the PRC has overstepped its mandate.

Former CHED chairman Bro. Rolly Dizon said the PRC should have released the exam results and allowed the passers to take their oaths on Wednesday. Hundreds of WNC graduates waited in vain in Iloilo on Wednesday for their test results to be released so they could take their oaths as nurses.

The PRC should not have allowed them to take the exams if it would only withhold the results, Dizon added.

If sanctions have to be imposed, Dizon averred, it should be the school that should be answerable for the overloading. The PRC claimed that some of the examinees were allowed to take as much as 46 units overload. The CHED earlier said the overload was allowed by the school, which has the authority to do so, subject to the capability of the students.

What the graduates resented was the fact that they had complied with all the documentary requirements and paid the P900 examination fee. Not only that, they were also allowed to take the tests only to be told later that the results were being withheld purportedly because of the question of overloading.

Definitely, this is one case that could lead to an extended court hearing. And it can also expose to the public some shenanigans in the practices of CHED and PRC.

In short, it was fortunate that the issue cropped up early so that the government could adopt corrective measures to stop the deterioration of the education and training of Filipino nurses.

New phenomenon in sugar trading and non-traditional players

Sugar producers saw their profits rocketing sky high. But they, too, were puzzled by the runaway millgate prices. Even the national government — notably Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban and Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila – muttered complaints against hedgers and threatened the possibility of tax-free sugar imports.

In short, many have been befuddled by international and local developments. And precisely the confusion has registered jitters among many.

It seems puzzling. Sugar has long been the playing field of the traditional players. And, yet, even they seem to have also suddenly joined the scramble for sugar. Worse, they have witnessed the emergence of non-traditional players, both internationally and domestically.

Everybody just seems to be buying sugar.

Therein lies the new phenomenon. As pointed out by a Hightower report on sugar, trade house buyers were active Friday with new panic-buying noted on the floor.

The Chicago-based Hightower noted that active funds and speculative buying pushed March sugar higher and to new contract highs with a gain of 103 points.

And that seems to be the same phenomenon locally. Despite the government’s threat to import sugar tax-free, that only succeeded in depressing millgate prices from P1,400 per Lkg. in the morning to more than P1,200 in the afternoon. That’s a drastic drop, but still unable to dampen the scramble to gobble up as much of the newly milled sugar stocks.

And, yes, there were rumors of new players. In short, even non-traditional sugar buyers have joined the bidding.

Who are they? As in the world market, these included oil industry players, energy firms, hedged funds and even end-users.

The demand to own sugar, not supply seems to be fueling the bull trend, as Hightower put it.

"Who wants to own sugar? Speculators, trend-following funds, index funds, end-users, world money managers who want an energy-based commodity and energy companies who want a hedge against rising energy prices," Hightower reported.

That, to certain extent, explains the current surge in sugar prices.

The sugar market is rising in tandem with oil prices. And the oil market is also confronted with a series of sustainable supply threats.

"We have to think that the sugar market will be consistently pushed even higher because of oil," the report said.

Yesterday, the world market reached 18.75 cents per pound. And there are those who are betting that it will go higher. Last week, the betting was that it would hit 16 cents per pound. But that was soon erased.

The latest story is that China’s imports could near 1.4 million tons. And, yes, Pakistan may need 800,000 tons more this year. Russia and Iran are also possible buyers. And the US may need to import an additional 400,000 metric tons.

In short, the situation has developed into sugarcane becoming an energy commodity with sugar as a byproduct.

Thus, even in the local level, there is the perception that by the end of the milling season, there will be tightness in the supply and there will be no more sugar from outside the country that could be brought in at affordable prices. Thus, the hedging by traders and end-users.

The battlecry now — produce more sugar next year!