The city government of Dumaguete, through the City Tourism Office and the City Tourism Council, is bringing back the Santacruzan Festival in May.
The big move is not without the blessings of the Diocese of Dumaguete, according to City Tourism Officer RR Maquiling, Jr.
In a meeting between Msgr. Julius Heruela and Maquiling, with City Tourism Council OIC Chair Catalina Amasula, an agreement was reached to revive the Santacruzan Festival but this time as a collaborative effort merging tourism-related activities and religious rites in the month-long celebration and religious observance.
This year’s theme is Santacruzan: Celebration of Virtues.
Maquiling said the City Tourism Office and Council have prepared a series of events that would set the town a-buzz with excitement to atttract tourists and visitors to come and be a part of the celebration.
At the same time, these activities will be interspersed with religious events at the Church, especially novena masses which will be sponsored by city government offices.
The grand festival day is Saturday, May 26 and has two parts: the parade of virtues, and the festival showdown; both are competitions with five city barangays as participants.
“This exciting development not only puts to rest the issue about the church and government differing in their points of view on the Santacruzan, but rather validates the strong cooperation and harmonious working relationship between the two,”Maquiling added.
“We are at present working on this year’s Santacruzan to be a big event based on the sharing of creative ideas between church and state, lending talent, time, and effort to each other, which in the end will mean a grand but meaningful celebration of this time-honored Filipino festival,” Maquiling added.
The festival may cause excitement and frenetic energy in the city from Day 1 up to May 26, but this will all be tempered with the religious procession on May 31, Sunday, which the Diocese of Dumaguete will organize.
“The return of the Santacruzan festival is something that we urge everyone to watch out for. It may be an event of tourism significance, but anyone will be amazed to discover that it is a celebration of our cultural, historical, and religious heritage too,” Maquiling quoted Mayor Sagarbarria. (PIO)
