San Agustin Fiesta A Time for Thanksgiving, Not Exploitation

I had a lively discussion last Friday with two of my colleagues, Mindanao Current Editor-in-Chief Ed Montalvan and SunStar Cagayan de Oro Editor-in-Chief Stephen Capillas. The topic was the proposal to turn over the management of the City Fiesta to the private sector.

Tsada Kagayan 2006 Fiesta Executive Committee Chair Councilor Benjo Benaldo brought up the proposal after Oro Chamber President Ruben Vegafria suggested the city organize a private foundation which would manage and bring the fiesta to unprecedented heights like similar institutions have made Cebu “Sinulog and Davao” Kadayawan blockbuster money making machines.

Benjo has proposed to sponsor an ordinance that would turn over the planning, management and conduct of the fiesta celebration activities to the private sector and rename it “Tsada Kagay-an” to impress on all and sundry it's “going global” in tourism potential and economic production.

Ben believes the city should create an events management bureau that would start preparations for the fiesta early so funds would be available to finance well-organized activities and the whole process would be transparent. Does that mean the present system isn’t? Ben didn’t say that, am just thinking aloud.

Ben says we get peanuts in sponsorship deals compared to the Sinulog and Kadayawan where the private sector has closed million peso deals with sponsors who use fiestas as a venue to maximize the advertisement of their products.

But Ed doesn’t believe the present management by the city government is wanting. He’s a great believer in the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Well, I’m afraid in this particular aspect I tend to side with Hizzoner who earlier reiterated that the celebration of the city fiesta should be kept simple to just defray expenses and not be a burden to the city's businessmen.

You see, guys, this fiesta started as a thanksgiving to the Patron of Cagayan de Oro, San Agustin of Hippo, for the blessings the city and its people have received during the preceding year. It’s a sad day when the schedule of the novenas and masses for Sta. Monica and San Agustin fails to merit some space in the city’s impressive line-up of activities bustling with sports, concerts, parties and all sorts of celebration and bacchanalian merrymaking.

Time was when the early morning procession for Sta. Monica and San Agustin was the high point of the city fiesta. Too bad most people these days are apparently busier thinking of ways to fleece thousands of visitors who flock to the city each year for fiesta week, rather than offering thanksgiving to the Patron who watched over them while they slept and keep their coffers overflowing with profits and other blessings as a result of that peace.

The thanksgiving doesn’t have to be the orgy of spending the fiesta has degenerated into. In the New Testament, Jesus tells the story of the poor widow who put in her last two coins in the temple” collection box compared to the rich Pharisee who ostentatiously placed a large amount and made sure the most number of people possible saw him doing it.

The Christ said the poor widow in her poverty gave more than the rich Pharisee because he was merely giving away a small portion of his wealth compared to the poor widow who put in all she had. Thanksgiving and sacrifice, they’re two faces of the same coin, amigos.

The management of the fiesta isn’t all our good friend Ben wants to change about the fiesta though. He told Stephen that he thought it would be good to focus the Cagayan de Oro fiesta theme, motif and image on the Lambagohan or river festival.

He told Steve how the famous and commercial successful Philippine festivals have their “branding” to keep alive their name recall in the minds of domestic and foreign tourists.

He cited how Sinulog has its Sto. Ni, Kadayawan its native motif, the MassKara Festival in Bacolod its masks, and the Kaamulan festival in Bukidnon its lumads. Why not name the Cagayan de Oro fiesta “Lambagohan” in honor of the Cagayan de Oro River which is now being used as a tourist attraction and an income earner for enterprises like the river taxi and river restaurant?

Why not indeed? No quarrel there, Ben. As Ed recalls, Cagayan de Oro used to be named Kalambagohan for the abundance of lambago trees which used to line the banks of the Cagayan River.

Ben is also not sold on placing “Tsada” in the fiesta name because he believes it” too “generic”, whatever that means. I think Ben is just too shy to say in public the widely held misconception that “Tsada” is “swardspeak” or the language of gays.

Not so, says Nono Montalvan, Ed” younger brother and a noted local historian. In fact, Nono said “Tsada” comes from the Spanish word fachada, or “facade.” “Tiene facha” thus refers to someone who has “form” or in teenspeak, “Japorms”.

But there” a grain of truth to Ben” supposition that “Tsada” is too generic because it is also used in Dumaguete to basically mean the same thing that it means here in Cagayan de Oro, ergo, it is not as unique to CDO as previously thought (this acronym is for mi bien amiga, Nanette Roa, just to wake her up this Friday morning).

Going back to Lambagohan, while it” true it is riverine in origin and could be used to stress the “riverside” theme of the city fiesta as Ben believes, let me quote Ed Montalvan again at this point: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

You see, Ben, the name 'Kagay-an' is already riverine in origin, and in fact, would serve the purpose of stressing the role of the river in Cagayan de Oro City” history and culture better than “Lambagohan” which as of the moment has minimal, if any, name recall, compared to Kagay-an which is instantly recognizable to any blue-blooded Kagay-anon where ever in this planet he may be.

Not too long ago, I had a lively discussion with Nono and Elson Elizaga, webmaster of Heritage Conservation Advocates, on whether there should be a hyphen, or as Nono puts it, a “glottal stop” between the words Kagay- and an.

Elson consulted Dr. Lawrence A. Reid, researcher emeritus of the University of Hawaii” Dept. of Linguistics about this hyphen-thingy, and following is a portion of his email to Elson:

August 31, 2002 -- In a series of emails, Reid explained that cagayan comes from an ancient word for "river". According to Reid, the original word is unknown because the ancient speakers of the Proto-Philippine language are dead. But it can be scientifically reconstructed as *kaRayan, pronounced like “Cagayan”.

The asterisk in *kaRayan is a linguistic symbol, indicating that the word is hypothetical. The capital R represents an unknown sound -- referred to by Reid as “proto-phoneme” -- that was most likely a fricative g, which is similar to the sound of g in "gamma". *kaRayan then evolved into the Northern Cordillera kagayan, the Ilokano karayan, the Kapampangan kayayan, and others. All these words mean "river".

Some sources say that the original word for river is kagay, which, when combined with -an (place), became kagayan (river place).

So, to paraphrase Kuya Ed Montalvan, “If Kagay-an serves the purpose of describing the fiesta” riverine theme better than ‘Lambagohan’, why change it to something which has even lesser name recall among the target market? Whether the hyphen or ‘glottal’ stop should remain between Kagay- and –an is we already discussed previously, inconclusively unfortunately, but that” another topic for another day.

Unless we can keep the Feast of St. Augustine true to its original purpose of thanksgiving for Cagayan de Oro City” patron saint, I believe it would be better for everyone if the city and the private sector push through with its idea to “commercialize” the city fiesta by holding it instead on the city” charter day on June 15.

On this date, the focus would be more on the city, its officials, its people and how all have come together to make this a prosperous and progressive city, rather than on August 28 which should be returned to its religious origins to which it belongs, and which unfortunately many of us have already forgotten, or choose to forget in the midst of our good fortune and prosperity.

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