Hot season starts with a bang

It is not yet official but the hot or dry season has started in Western Visayas, and with a bang. In Negros Occidental, it’s not just the start of the campaign season, it’s also the start of many activities lined up for the next few months.

One of these activities is the Bacolaodiat, which was the celebration of the Spring Festival which the Tsinoy community of Bacolod turned into a showcase of Chinese culture and history. It included, among others, a feature on the Chinese culinary arts, which drew thousands of locals to the Bacolod Plaza.

This prompted Bacolod City to field the MassKara Dancers of Barangay Aoijis and the Kadang performers. Thus, the lion and dragon dancers regaled the crowd with their numbers.

Cui Luosheng, Chinese consul general in Cebu City, presided the opening of the Bacolaodiat festival. The opening was preceded by a cultural parade of Negros Tsinoys, with delegations from the various Chinese schools in the city.

It was highlighted by the conferment of honors to Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco at the St. John’s Institute Activities Center. Cojuangco was adopted by the city as a sixth generation Tsinoy and was cited for his contribution to the Filipino people through his many humanitarian endeavors.

National Arts Fair

But the most impressive series of activities is the National Commission on Culture and Arts (NCCA) Fair, which opens on Feb. 28 with the Maghirupay Kita concert by the Kabayao family. The musical concert is for the benefit of the Negros Museum and the Occidental Negros Youth Orchestra.

March 1 will be the ceremonial opening of the art fair with Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon, NCCA chairman Ambeth Ocampo, Vice Gov. Isidro Zayco, Jose Marie Chan and the ambassadors of several countries in attendance. This will be held at the Negros Occidental multi- purpose activity center.

There will be international pavilions and retrospective exhibit in memory of Ayco, Santiago, Severino, Tronco at the Negros Museum lobby.

Antique Gov. and Western Visayas cultural and historical council chairman Sally Zaldivar-Perez will speak about "Culture and the Arts: The Antidote to Politics." Cito Beltran and Sid Hildawa will moderate the open forum.

Romanian violinist Alexandru Tomescu, accompanied at the piano by Bacolod’s pianist Mary Ann Espina, will stage their Bohemian Night concert at the Social Hall of the Provincial capitol.

And that’s just part of the series of activities for the first day of March, There will be street painting, art talk, art exchange, art space and art experience.

The National Arts Fair is envisioned to be a premier showcase of Philippine visual arts and a major marketing platform where gallery owners, collection artists and LGUs can forge alliances and share ideas and exchange information to increase awareness of our cultural heritage.

NPAs torch farm equipment

Suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels Saturday torched two more tractors and a cargo truck of the Hacienda Gamboa in Caduhaan, Cadiz City, purportedly because of management’s refusal to pay P1 million in revolutionary taxes.

E.B. Magalona Mayor Alfonso Gamboa owns the sugar farm, according to Lt. Col. Felicisimo Badiongan.

The military immediately launched a manhunt for the guerrilla group that staged the arson. The cost of the equipment still has to be submitted.

However, at current prices, tractors cost around P1.5 million, and so do trucks used in hauling sugarcane to the mill. A certain Omra reportedly led the group of about 20 partisans. Badiongan, Task Force Group North commander, said the rebels kept coming back to the barangay (the biggest in Cadiz City) purportedly to extort money from sugar farmers and to punish those who refuse to pay revolutionary taxes.

In E.B. Magalona, Gamboa said that several months ago, rebels also torched the farm equipment of a lady sugar farmer who had also refused to hand over money to the insurgents.

That presages a long, hot summer.

SM inaugural on March 2

All is set for the inauguration of the SM Mall at the Bacolod Reclamation area on March 2. It is an impressive and sprawling building, which has a pedestrian walkway linking the mall’s two major buildings.

Constructed on a sprawling lot at the Reclamation area, the SM Mall signals renewed economic activity in an area that hitherto promises to be the main activity center in Bacolod.

The impressive building is supposed to employ some 1,000 Bacolodnons later, as well as stimulate business activities among local entrepreneurs.

As Sammy Palanca, chairman and president of BREDCO, put it, Henry Sy, the SM’s top man, shared with him the latter’s secret in business. "It’s a simple matter. I got the one percent, which others do not have. Otherwise, we are all equal except for that one percent secret," Sy told Palanca.

Incidentally, the BREDO chairman is also completing a three-story hotel with several rooms just near the SM mall. This is located in front of the docking area of fast rafts traveling to and from Iloilo and Bacolod. The hotel will provide travelers and visitors easy access to the SM and downtown Bacolod, said Palanca.

The completion of the SM mall is expected to trigger an economic boom in Bacolod, particularly the reclamation area where there were already warehouses of major firms in Bacolod and Negros Occidental. The BREDCO port now plays host to dozens of inter-island ships and boasts an international port, which promises to bring in more foreign vessels, especially from China.

Tourism boost

Although several more cities and towns still have to submit their respective reports, Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Maranon has reason to smile broadly. The latest reports indicated that tourist arrivals in 2006 showed 678,805 had visited the 20 towns and cities of the province last year. And there are still several places, especially in Southern Negros, that still have to submit their reports.

The tourists include international and domestic visitors, overseas Filipino workers, excursionists and balikbayans.

Bacolod, of course, enjoyed the most number of visitors registering 211,199 arrivals. Bago was next with 62,955, followed by Cadiz with 15,666. Escalante posted an amazing 57,966 visitors but Sagay emerged as a major destination with 60,966.

Silay City landed next to Bacolod with 96,362 visitors. The most astonishing figure were the tourists-visitors of the Mambulak Resort, which was visited last year by 167,495 tourists.

With the development of the tourist resorts and vacation spots in Southern Negros, this year is expected to bring in more visitors to the province.

Right now, the main lure is the expansion of the Mambukal Resort by the provincial government.

ADDENDUM. I just got the report direct from the horse’s mouth. Bernie Miaque is definitely running for governor of Guimaras Province against re-electionist Gov. JC Rahman Nava. What about former governor Emily Relucio Lopez? The ambassadress-designate has reportedly refused to run again. Miaque told me that he will run as a Lakas candidate and is teaming up with Rep. Espinosa. So far, that’s the latest, although there may still be a lot of surprises in Aklan and Capiz.