DOT stirs evolution of better Eastern Visayas festivals

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
March 6, 2008

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  –  In its hope to stir the evolution of better Pinoy Festivals, the Department of Tourism Region 8 will conduct a seminar workshop on festival management on March 11-13, 2008 at the SMED Center, Tacloban City.

Director Karina Rosa Tiopes informed that the seminar workshop tagged as “Tunay na Piyestang Pinoy,” under the DOT’s Operation: Tunay na Kulturang Pinoy program, will be participated on by choreographers, artistic directors and local tourism officers.

This cultural workshop/clinic, Director Tiopes said, hopes to conduct the review and re-development of cultural festivals, the principle of correcting and enhancing the events through a tedious process of educating the community on correct music and correct dance movements and correct props and costumes that are based on their own history and traditions.

The participants will undergo an intensive training on aspects involved in festival management. Even local government officials and barangay leaders, Director Tiopes quipped, involved in yearly street dancing parades, will be made participate in the workshops to give them ample knowledge of their own culture and teach them tried-and-tested systems and methods to preserve and enhance their old rituals and traditions.

Among the topics in the seminar workshop are the overview of what is Operation: Tunay na Kulturang Pinoy which will be done by Director Romulo A. delos Reyes of DOT Central Office; the Roots of Filipino Culture and their Significance in Filipino Festivals by Dr. Brenda Fajardo of PETA; and the Festival Planning and Management by Mr. Nilo Agustin of DOT Central Office.

Other topics include Dance Movements and Choreography by Dr. Larry Gabbao of Philippine Normal University; Music by Mr. Lutgado Labad of PETA; Production Design, Costumes and Props by Dr. Brenda Fajardo of PETA; and Theater Arts Application  by Mr. Frank Rivera of NCCA.

In the workshop, the participants will take a closer peak into two popular Eastern Visayan Festivals, the Alikaraw Festival of Hilongos and the Sarakiki Festival of Calbayog.

The workshop output will be put together to create a cultural festival that carries the image and character of an ideal Eastern Visayan Pyesta. This will be critiqued by a panel of reactors from the Region's cultural communities and the academe.

Director Tiopes said that the Department of Tourism recognizes the fact that cultural festivals is an important component of the Philippine Tourism Industry, thus, it has the responsibility to put culture to where it should rightly belong. After all, culture is the soul of the nation and it is the one that differentiate a Filipino from his Asian brothers and sisters.