Town Fiesta

February is the foundation anniversary and coffee festival of Kulaman Plateau (official name: Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino). I’m not so enthusiastic about it. I prefer not to write about it. But if I didn’t, it would be a disservice to the readers of this blog. After all, the fiesta is supposed to be the biggest celebration of any Philippine town.

I went to the fiesta two years ago, and it was disappointing, to say the least. But before I get grouchy and discourage you from reading on, let me focus first on the positive side. For me the best thing about the celebration was the motocross competition, mainly because it has a special category for skylabs.

A skylab is a motorcycle slightly modified to carry up to five passengers. In Cebuano-speaking areas of Mindanao, it is called habal-habal. (Kulaman is predominantly Ilonggo.)  The motorcycle is usually a Honda TMX. To transform it into a skylab, the shock absorber is lengthened by several inches. A seat made of grills is then placed on top of the tank, where a passenger can sit “girly style” in front of the driver. Lastly, the rear-end of the vehicle, where the luggage can be tied on, is replaced with a cushioned seat to accommodate at least one more butt.

A skylab. We used to have one in late nineties. It was bought in Koronadal and then remodeled in T'boli , South Cotabato

The skylab racing makes the motocross competition in Kulaman distinct from the ones in urban areas. The racetrack is at the back playground of Kulaman Central Elementary School.

I went to the fiesta for one day only, though the celebration lasted for almost a week. I got impatient of waiting for the activities to start. That morning, the program scheduled at eight, in the municipal gymnasium, did not begin until ten-thirty. I don’t know if the activities on the other days also started as late as that. The day I was there, the delay was caused by the guest of honor, who still came from some very important meeting hundreds of miles away. The afternoon program started at three and the evening program at nine. Kulaman was giving “Filipino time” a whole new meaning.

The name of the celebration is “Solok Festival,” after the weaved bamboo basket used by the Dulangan Manobo in their everyday chores. Do not expect, however, a tribal street dancing competition as in city or provincial fiestas. Kulaman is too poor for that.

The evening I visited Kulaman, I went to the perya (fair) near the gym and the municipal hall. I was amused and appalled by what I saw, not because there were no rides but because practically all the games in the twenty or so stalls involved betting. The place was a paradise for gamblers. In Koronadal, where I went to college, numbers games were prohibited in the perya. People with gambling contraptions were ordered to pack up. It’s the exact opposite in Kulaman.

I was disappointed with the town festival, but I had some fun. The experience wasn’t really horrific enough to not give it another try. We’ll see.