Part 2
By Jackie Veloso-Antonio
I have to repeat here what Prudi Sirilan and Bobby Villasis, then Cultural Officer of Foundation University, told me about the palihi, as it is an interesting detail of the Buglasan Festival. You see, before a feast, gathering, birthday, or a harvest, a palihi or an offering is customarily made to appease the folk gods or spirits. There are variations of the palihi, and the Buglasan organizers chose the palihi of the town of Siaton in Negros Oriental, because it is a thanksgiving offering. With this particular palihi of Siaton, a manglilihi, or the person who conducts the offering, calls on the folk gods and spirits. Offerings are laid by the celebrator, hosts, farmers, or dignitaries (depending on the occasion) on a papag or a bamboo table.
There are specific offerings to be made: 1) kamanyang or burning resin which has the same scent as incense 2) chicken with white feathers cooked without salt 3) tuba or fermented coconut juice 4) tsokolate from the tableya or pure cocoa 5) tinustos or tobacco from lumboy leaves 6) puso or rice cooked in coconut leaves 7) and the sag-ob, a bamboo container used to fetch water from the well. The sag-ob is about two meters long, and filled with water. It is raised, then dropped to the ground so that it cracks, and the water flows out.
The way the water flows out is interpreted by the manglilihi as either a good or bad omen. The event following the palihi may, therefore, proceed smoothly or it may encounter some rough times.
The manglilihi asks the spirits to partake of the offerings. Then she joins the “spirits” in the partaking of the offerings, and soon, the rest of the people join in.
In May 1981, the whole campus of Foundation University was transformed into the venue for the first Buglasan Festival. Classrooms were converted into booths for the participating towns and cities. The festival showdown competition and other activities were held at the FU campus grounds.
The day before the three-day festival, truckloads of participants from 21 towns and cities of Negros Oriental drove into the FU campus. This was after two months of preparation and consultation. “It gave us goosebumps,” Prudi recounted. Afterall, no one expected that kind of large turnout. Foundation University, the Folk Arts Theater (FAT), the Department of Tourism and Balikatan were the pillars of the first Buglasan Festival here, in cooperation with the City of Dumaguete and Province of Negros Oriental.
The first Buglasan Festival offered a lot of surprises. During rehearsals, the staff from the Folk Arts Theater (FAT) who had come to watch the festival was impressed by the Inagta of Siaton Town that they documented it on video. Then came the turn of Zamboanguita Town. When the participants performed the Polka Biana, the staff of the FAT realized that they were actually watching “the lost dance”, described as such by Leonor Oroza Goquinco in her book Philippine Folk Dances published in the 1960s. The Polka Biana was referred to as “the lost dance” because there was only a brief description to it, no mention of the music used. Even the description of the dance steps was insufficient for them to be rechoreographed. So once again, the already very excited staff of the FAT documented on video “the lost dance, now recovered”.
For the first time, we had the national media covering the festival here in Dumaguete. The first Buglasan Festival was also featured on the cover of the Panorama, Manila Bulletin’s Sunday magazine. Never before had Negros Oriental been in the limelight like this.
The Inagta from Siaton was proclaimed grand prize winner of the festival that year, but because the other performances were just too good to pass up, Mrs. Lucresia Reyes-Urtula, one of the founders and choreographer of the Bayanihan, recommended four other contingents to perform in Manila too. Zamboanguita’s Polka Biana, Dauin’s Kasal Dauinonan, Manjuyod’s Amamanhig and Tanjay’s Sinulog de Tanjay. All five performances were rearranged and directed into one production number by Bobby Villasis. The group came to be called the Cultural Troupe of Negros Oriental.
In July 1981, the Cultural Troupe of Negros Oriental was off to Manila. Foundation University provided the financial assistance for the technical crew, while the local government of each of the towns raised its own funds. The provincial government also pitched in. Over in Manila, the National Philippine Folk Festival was not a contest. It was merely a grand show participated by almost all the provinces in the country with the former First Lady Imelda Marcos as guest of honor. Bobby Villasis relates that one day as they were rehearsing their number onstage, Mrs. Lucrecia Reyes-Urtula, who was supervising the entire show, asked them to stop. Then she announced to all that the show’s program had been changed! The usual ribbon cutting ceremony was cancelled. Instead, Negros Oriental was chosen to formally open the festival with the Palihi. Another revision was that after the usual palihi offerings, the governors and mayors were to go up front to present their local products to the First Lady. It was after all her birthday. And so, the governors and mayors came bearing their brassware, woodcarvings, special patadyong and potteries from all over the country.
The following year 1982, a bigger Buglasan Festival was organized at the Dumaguete City Quezon Park. The winners represented Negros Oriental in Manila, this time in a real competition.
Sibulan’s Gapnod based on the legend of San Antonio de Padua and Zamboanguita’s Pahukot, a song and dance dedication to a celebrator, were presented at the 1982 National Philippine Folk Festival. Negros Oriental competed in all categories. Arts and crafts was represented through sinamay weaving– from the stripping of the abaca, to the dying of the fibers; and Manjuyod’s salt making. The cooking category was represented through Sibulan’s Linubihan na Kagang (mud crab cooked in coconut milk). Prudi Sirilan shared that the Negros Oriental booth stood out and was widely-praised because of its “very inato” design. It was no wonder, our province brought home the overall second prize award. The trophy is proudly displayed at Foundation University to this day.
In 1983, Buglasan Festival was again held at the Quezon Park. The grand prize winner, a contingent of 100 performers with the black Sto. Nino of Dumaguete’s Barangay Mangga represented Negros Oriental in Tacloban for the launching of the Sangyaw Festival in honor of the Sto. Nino. The Sangyaw has since been renamed the Pintados Festival. Although Sangyaw Festival in Tacloban was not a contest, the Negros Oriental presentation once again stood out from among the rest. The moment the First Lady Imelda Marcos saw Negros Oriental Province’s Black Sto. Nino, she came down the balcony from where she was watching virtually stopping the street dancing and reverently touched the Sto. Nino. After the festival, while the Negros Oriental performers — like all the other contingents — were lounging on the grass, tired and hungry, a truckload of food was delivered to the Negrenses. The messenger told them that the feast was a “pasasalamat” from the First Lady who was said to have been “deeply touched” by the Negrenses’ presentation with the unique black Sto. Nino.
The congressional elections in 1984 caused the temporary suspension of the Buglasan Festival. About six more Buglasan Festivals were organized between the years 1989 and 2000. It was in 2002 that then Provincial Tourism Head Remedios L. Yap, with the support of the Negros Oriental Tourism Council, revived the Buglasan Festival. From 2002 to 2019, the Buglasan Festival was held annually in the month of October. The Sangguniang Panlalawigan passed Ordinance No. 15 proclaiming Buglasan as an annual provincial festival, and in 2005 former President Gloria Arroyo declared the third Friday of October as Buglasan Day and a special holiday for Negros Oriental Province.
After a brief interruption during the COVID pandemic years (2020-2021) the festival made a comeback in 2022. This year’s Buglasan promises to be even more exciting, more creative, and staying true to our local culture and heritage. See you at the booth area at the Freedom Park! (Originally published on Sept. 28, 2003)
