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NEWS
JANUARY 29FEBRUARY 11, 2017
Bambanti Festival celebrates Isabela for the Universe
T
he province of Isabela recently held the Bambanti Festival 2017, which depicts the blossoming of Isabela as an outstanding province in the Philippines. The annual festival organized by the provincial government highlights Isabela’s community life, history, and heritage through a celebration of the province’s rich harvest, bountiful produce and colorful culture. Held recently, from Jan. 23 to 28, Bambanti Festival 2017 was a tourism, trade, investment and environment project featuring the province’s various indigenous worldclass products, lifestyle merchandise items and cuisine as pride of place. The festival’s theme, “Isabela for the Universe,” celebrated the successes that the province has enjoyed and proudly shares with the world. It aims to become a template
for economic growth, socio-cultural development, disaster preparedness, and the agriculture productivity of the community. It was a showcase of Isabela’s universal love—its love and respect for fellow Isabeleños, for the community, for the province (its natural resources, culture, agriculture, industries). This is what the province offers to the whole of mankind, and to the universe. Since its beginnings, the Bambanti Festival has been represented by the scarecrow as its mascot and token icon, “bambanti” being the Ilocano word for scarecrow. While Western culture has assigned the scarecrow an image that stirs fright, the bambanti in Isabela stands as a representation of protection. Made of straw and grass, wrapped in farmer’s clothing, the bambanti is placed in the middle of the fields to prevent the birds
Battling for the truth...from page 1 spreading propaganda, from proliferating the thought that marijuana “makes blacks and Mexicans rape white women” to the fear mongering that the 24/7 coverage of the “war on terror” brought. And it is the accumulated decades of distrust that has led to this—the post-fact world—a world where objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. There prevails a brazenness that allows the Trump administration to claim he had the biggest inauguration crowd ever, even when it cannot be more contrary to what everyone’s eyes suggest. It is the same thing that empowers Duterte’s interpretation team to claim that the President didn’t say what he said in front of hundreds of people, video evidence be damned. It’s the very thing that leaves the public unblinking when the administrations says that people haven’t felt as safe on the streets as they do now, with crime rates supposedly down, and the President’s vice presidential running mate comparing the country to Singapore—all while over 6,000 people have been killed in six months, the country remains under a “state of lawlessness” and Duterte insists on keeping the threat of martial law lit.
State of confusion As mad as the two leaders often appear to be, there seems to be a method to their consistent discrediting of the media. In a Philippine Daily Inquirer op-ed piece by John Nery titled “Why we MUST fight fakes,” he cites a chapter in Hannah Arendt’s “Origins of Totalitarianism,” which attempts to explain how crafting a state of confusion is indispensable to authoritarian rule. “Just as terror, even in its pre-total, merely tyrannical form ruins all relationships between men, so the self-compulsion of ideological thinking ruins all relationships with reality… The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist,” reads an excerpt from Arendt's book. It appears we, or at least the ruling elite, have brought this upon us. Political outsiders have become strong, alternative choices as opposed to remaining with the status quo. And now, amidst all the issues the respective countries have, a battle between facts and how they are perceived has emerged.
Phl to bolster medical...from page 1 This was revealed by Dr. Cynthia Lazo, director and head of the Department of Tourism’s Medical Travel and Wellness Tourism Marketing Development Group, in her talk dubbed “Competitive Edge in Medical Tourism” held at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino. “We have world-class medical expertise and global technologies that have made us a value for money venue. We are much more affordable than hospitals based in the US and Europe,” she stated in a conference on Philippine Retirement, Medical and Wellness Tourism organized by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce-Cebu chapter. To prove this point, she cited the fact that Philippine medical packages have remained unchanged since 2013 in its bid to remain competitive vis-à-vis her Asean neighbors. She also pointed out to the overall country environment in terms of its tropical climate, among other factors, and tourism attractiveness due to its numerous white sand
beach resort facilities, natural attractions, dive sites, and heritage attractions. Among the more feasible and relevant medical products/services in the field, Dr. Lazo enumerated executive check-ups, cardiology, minimally invasive surgery, orthopedics, ophthalmology, and aesthetic/cosmetics/dental services. Key markets include members of the Filipino diaspora (OFWs, migrant workers), medical travel services (Guam, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea), health and wellness tourism (with China, Korea, and Japan), expats and retirees, and domestic medical travelers and tourists. Future directions include consultation meetings with stakeholders for different market niches, development of wellness packages, creation and analysis of international pathway to address customer care continuum, and strategic conversations with Investment Promotion Agencies and insurance providers.
Vibrant costumes mark the Bambanti Festival dance competitions
from coming and ensure a good and abundant harvest. During the weeklong festival, the bambanti becomes the focus of the celebration of thanksgiving. Visitors enjoyed a wide array of activities during the festval’s recent staging, which included the province-wide Giant Bambanti Showcase; Bambanti Street Dance and Showdown Competition; youth talents
in Bambanti Musical Street; Isabela’s very own Hip-Hop BBoy Group Dance Competition; Search for Bambanti Festival King and Queen; an Agri-Ecotourism Exhibit and Sale, among others. For more information on the Bambanti Festival and the province of Isabela, contact the Office of the Provincial Administrator at (078) 323-1073 or visit www.isabela.ph