The happy month of March

 LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March Fianza

             It is the month for celebrations – fiestas, weddings, baptisms, clan reunions, school closing ceremonies and graduations. Basically, it is for me the happiest month of the year. It is a month of gathering clan members together in one single venue. Most of all, it is a time to set aside differences of clans and quarrels of friends as many will be meeting each other on any date within the month.

            

            On the first Sunday of March, Onjon ni Ivadoi officers and members expect to meet each other again at the Ibaloy Heritage Park to finish any performance that was delayed due to kinks in the month-long Ibaloy festival. It is also a good time to assess the successful Ibaloy fest. And by the way, I think the Ibaloy festival was definitely not the first as stated in the program because certainly there were Ibaloy festivals that were held in the past, especially in Ibaloy nations such as Kabayan, Bokod, Tuba, Itogon, La Trinidad and Tublay that were open to all Ibaloys.

            The Adivay, for example, was first staged in 1994 at the Baguio Athletic Bowl with the presence of then Sec. Raffy Alunan and then Sen. Nikki Coseteng who graced the Ibaloy gathering among many prominent Ibaloy elders. So that the Ibaloy festival held from February 2 to February 23 last month should have been appropriately dubbed as “First Onjon Ni Ivadoy Festival”.

***

           Last week, the country celebrated the 28th anniversary of the Edsa Revolution, a peaceful revolt that toppled the Marcos administration. Friends pressed me to travel with them to Manila and join hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters march along Edsa and come face to face with the arsenal government soldiers but I refused to join them. Not that I was afraid but two days prior, I was preparing for a climb to Mt. Pulag with Bobby Carantes and the late Bong Baskinas.

         And so on February 26, 1986; there were three guys freely gallivanting on the peak of Mt. Pulag. While many of our friends trooped to Manila to witness the noisy confrontation of government soldiers and unarmed civilians, Bobby, Bong and I were enjoying real freedom on Mt. Pulag and appreciating the beauty of the environment and the mountains that Kabunyan has carved in the tri-boundary of Viscaya, Benguet and Ifugao. At night, we built a fire to warm the spirits that roam on the mountain deemed as sacred by Ibaloys.

          In the morning, while we were viewing a river in the Ifugao side that reflected the golden rising sun, three US F-Phantom jets swiftly flew very close over our scared heads. There were reports then that the Edsa Revolt was partly instigated by the CIA, so that it was natural for us to speculate that maybe the sophisticated cameras of the jet planes were trained on us. Maybe they took pictures of three guys unusually sitting on top of the country’s second highest peak when everybody else were holding street rallies at Edsa. Or maybe they suspected us as “nice people around”.

***

It now appears clear to many that the so-called Session Road in Bloom that was conceptualized as a show of flowers is not what it is supposed to be. The road has turned into a commercial strip for businessmen who are selling all sorts of handicrafts, food, shoes, cell phones, communication gadgets and pasalubong. There are more of these than flowers. Maybe good for generating additional income for the city but better yet to change the name of the event. Maybe “Session Road Shoes” or “Session Road Food” are more appropriate names.

Anyway, let us welcome the happy month of March. – ozram.666@gmail.com