MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/24 January)—The Bukidnon provincial government clarified that the Kaamulan Festival 2013 will proceed as scheduled from February to March amidst speculations it was postponed to September.
Fredelyn Ragandang, of the provincial governor’s Public Affairs Information and Assistance Office, told MindaNews Thursday that only the celebration of the province’s foundation anniversary was postponed to September.
For her part, Salvacion Dedicatoria, chief of the Provincial Planning and Development Office, told reporters there was already a ruling from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) on the province’s founding anniversary.
She added that the founding date of the province is now declared to be every September 1.
Board member Nemesio Beltran Jr. earlier passed a resolution supporting the NHCP’s findings that the province was created on September 1, 1914 under Commission Act 2408, not on March 10, 1917.
Thus, Bukidnon will celebrate its centennial in 2014.
Ragandang said the soft opening of Kaamulan will be on February 18. The annual festival runs up to March 10, which was until last year the day the province marks its foundation anniversary.
She said the Provincial Indigenous Cultural Communities Affairs Division held a pamuhat or offertory ritual on January 21 in line with the festival
The festival’s grand opening will be held on February 22, the day the drum and bugle competition was also set.
The annual Kaamulan street dancing competition is tentatively scheduled on March 2.
Seven local government units are expected to compete in the street dancing to include the towns of Damulog, Dangcagan, Kitaotao, Talakag, and Don Carlos, and the cities of Malaybalay and Valencia, Ragandang said.
Kaamulan is an annual celebration in the province to honor customs and traditions of the seven tribal groups in Bukidnon namely the Bukidnon, Higaonon, Talaandig, Manobo, Matigsalug, Tigwahanon and Umayamnon.
(Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)
