The Sto. Niño Church in the town of Santa Fe, Bantayan Island, bears witness to the strength of a parish priest who vehemently objects to the holding of a festival as the country commemorates the death of Jesus Christ this Holy Week. (More on page 31)
CDN FILE PHOTO
Tourism officials and leaders in the government and private sectors are leaning towards preserving the solemnity of the Holy Week observation on Bantayan Island even as they urged both the church and mayor of Santa Fe to reach a compromise over the holding of a music festival in the town during the Holy Week.
Alice Queblatin, president of the Cebu Association of Tour Operations Specialists (CATOS), said this issue is something that would impact the sensitivities of locals rather than the preference of tourists.
“Tourists come and take traditions or culture as presented to them, respecting how locals observe these traditions,” she said.
With unity in purpose, she said the LGU and the Church may take compromises for the common good.
She said that it will not really hurt tourism if the more “solemn” activities are left undisturbed during the “holy days” while grand festivities with all the revelry and music can be celebrated on Easter Sunday.
Edilberto Mendoza, CATOS past president, said Holy Week is a time of reflection and penitence and should not be used nor abused for financial gains.
“What should be done perhaps is to maintain the holiness of the season by ensuring that all activities do not, in any way, disturb the Holy Week observance,” he said.
Provincial Tourism Officer Joselito “Boboi” Costas echoed calls by Sta. Fe parish priest Fr. Roy Bucag to move the start of Isla Music Festival to Easter Sunday instead of from Holy Wednesday to Black Saturday, but also hoped that Bucag and festival organizers led by Santa Fe Mayor Jose Esgana can arrive at a compromise.
Esgana had earlier said the Isla Music Festival, an open air event featuring different bands, will push through on Black Saturday and even threatened to sanction the parish priest for holding an anti-festival procession at dawn of Saturday without a rally permit.
He also accused the priest of child abuse for allowing children to join the procession and making them hold up anti-festival tarpaulins.
The mayor likewise zeroed in on the participation of a drum and bugle corps in the procession, saying it constituted “a noise and public disturbance.”
Fr. Bucag said Holy Week should not be used for the kind of tourism activities that promote festive eating, drinking, and dancing (See separate story on page 31).
Nonetheless, the festival activities will push through as scheduled with the local government giving assurance that they will monitor the festival so as not to disturb the solemnity of the Holy Week observance.
Costas, for his part, said his office does not have regulatory functions and may only supervise or coordinate activities deemed good for the tourism industry of a local government unit.
The government official said the event has both positive and negative impacts, positive being the creation of business and local opportunities for the locals.
At the same time, religious practices and the solemnity of the Holy Week can be disrupted by the presence of tourists, not only in Santa Fe, but even in the towns of Bantayan and Madridejos.
“This leads to the trivialization of the cultural significance of the island,” said Costas.
Costas added that while mass tourism brings in economic opportunities, during religious observance and around a solemn occasion, it also threatens the integrity, as well as trivializes and compromises the authenticity of a place.
Mayor Art Despi of the neighboring Bantayan town said that both parties should strive to meet halfway to iron out the their problems.
“Had both sides talked out the issue before coming up with the program, they could have come up with a compromise where, perhaps, a concert would be held but aligned to the religious motif of the season,” Despi said.
A huge number of domestic and foreign tourists also flock to Bantayan town during the Holy Week observance, in time for the foot processions in Bantayan town on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday where life-sized images and icons are mounted on carnival-style carrozas (floats) depicting the tableaux of Christ’s Passion and the Stations of the Cross.
The town of Santa Fe, which accounts for most tourist arrivals on the island, welcomed 43,478 domestic visitors and 13,978 foreign visitors from January to November 2016, according to data from the Department of Tourism in Central Visayas (DOT-7).