ESGANA
SANTA Fe town officials are warning guests and organizers of the Isla Music Festival 2017 to keep their trash.
“Clean as you stay and clean as you go,” said Santa Fe Mayor Jose Esgana after empty bottles were seen along the beach line in the venue on Friday morning.
The music fest is slated from April 12, Holy Wednesday, until April 15, Black Saturday. April 12 was set-up day; April 13, Maunday Thursday, was beach volleyball day; Good Friday would be a film showing about “The Passion of Christ,” and the main event would be on Black Saturday.
Esgana said during a press briefing on Saturday that despite having job order employees tasked to clean the area, it is still the responsibility of the community and the tourists to maintain cleanliness.
He also encouraged the public to report to the police anyone who leaves their litter in the area.
He said they would be adapting a Municipal Ordinance adapting the Republic Act 9003 or known as the “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.”
He said that the town would give P1,000 reward for the informant, while the violator would be fined P1,000.
The Isla Music Fest, which has drawn controversy because it was held during the Holy Week, has drawn complaints about the loud noise especially from the event’s critics.
However, Niño Mike Torevillas, the paralegal officer of Santa Fe town, said that there was no loud music heard from the venue going to the church.
“We surveyed the area and recorded everything,” Torevillas said in a press briefing yesterday.
He also claimed there were no residents in Barangay Pooc who complained, but instead, some of those residents who lived near the venue were among the vendors selling goods to music fest participants.
Lindo Gigante, a resort owner and an international airline pilot, said he was disturbed and was not able to sleep until after the party ended.
“It was a disco type of music and the beat was thumping,” Gigante said.
Gigante was also among the critics of the Isla Music Festival 2017 and has been vocal that the “Holy Week is not a fiesta.”
Gigante claimed that the music ended at 3:30 a.m. and he was able to sleep at 5 a.m. on Friday in his resort in Barangay Poblacion, a kilometer away from the Isla Music Festival 2017 venue.
Amador Lumongsod Sr., another Isla Music Festival critic, said he did not know when the loud music from the music fest ended because he was already asleep at 11 p.m.
“I did not notice what time they finished because I was so tired and was asleep in a while,” said Lumongsod in Cebuano.
His rented house is about 200 meters away from the Isla music fest venue.
Lumongsod, who is a resident of Cebu City, has considered the town his second home because his family rented a place in the town for “quite some time.”
He, however, reiterated his opposition against the music fest, citing the need to preserve the solemnity of the Holy Week.