Street dances, cultural shows, songs, fireworks highlight Sagada Etag fest

By Gina Dizon and Francis B. Degay

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- The four- day Etag festival ended with a resplendent show of some 15 minute fireworks and songs from noted musicians on the last day of the event on Feb. 2 in this tourist town.

Ingrid Payaket, grand finalist of Pilipinas Got Talent 2010  wowed the audience with her cool and stunning voice singing praise and inspirational songs.  

Of Besao and Kabayan roots, Ingrid made an impressive musical performance.

She was joined by Pachie Marcs Castaneda, mission priest of Sagada-based Mount Carmel of the Roman Catholic Church who rendered his popular compositions.

Wow Sagada writer and musician-composer, Pachie Marcs as he is popularly has around 200 plus compositions the past 20 years and made two albums.

Other musicians who joined the last day of the event were Kalchangs- Topyu and company- from Kabayan with their reggae songs to the delight of the crowd who danced the night away.

Sagada musicians including Gimo Guyud, Jerry Fatiig and Noel Agnapan joined the community jam after the “battle of the bands.”

The “battle” was joined by five Sagada-based youth bands.

The Guesang Band from Bangaan of northern Sagada was first place followed by Up Young Band from central and eastern Sagada. Third in was the Southern Youth Performers Band from Ankileng Sagada.

Padi Charles Buking of Shalom Beharim Choir, chairman of the board of judges said they had difficulty choosing from the 1st and second placers.

Other judges were Edgar Cue, music enthusiast and manager of Cable Café; Robert Pangod, musician and district administrator of Red Cross-Mt Province and Pachie Marcs.

The 1st and 2nd placers- may join the Lang-ay festival battle of the bands come first week of April,   said Pachie Marcs, chairman of the Lang-ay Festival battle of the bands.

Shalom Beharim Choir composed of clergy from the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines (EDNP) and clergy from the Roman Catholic Church did a joint concert on the 2nd night of the festival.  

An inspiring part of the four-day Etag festival was the launching of Sagada emporium showing  Sagada’s best products- coffee, woven items, pottery, processed foods,  veggies, etag and etag delicacies of sandwich and bread; and new creations of upcycled products of bag made from waste paper and beads and necklaces made from remnants of woven cloth.

A new twist of the festival was the making of a food court at the tennis court made clean and colorful with green stalls and parachutes installed to cover customers from the sun.

To top the event was the holding of the most anticipated yearly tug- of- war between different sectors- government officials and employees, innkeepers, barangay officials, tourist guides and zonal representatives.

Traditional street dances and cultural presentations were also the climax of the festival in this most frequented tourist town in northern Luzon.

Jaime Dogao, Sagada indigenous peoples’ mandatory representative in his opening remarks said culture is deep-rooted in the life of every Sagada native.

He said some important beliefs and practices are still being applied today such as, ub-ubbo (bayanihan), linnayad (love for other people), and love of environment, the Igorot god Kabunyan and spirits of ancestors.

In the street dancing competition, the south central zone won the first prize, 2nd went to eastern, and and central was 3rd.

The southern and northern zones received consolation prizes.

The central zone bested other areas in the cultural presentations.

The northern zone trailed 2nd, while south central zone was proclaimed 3rd.  The eastern and southern zones were given consolation prizes.

The prizes for street dancing and cultural show competitions were sponsored by Rep. Maximo Dalog, Jr. of the lone district of Mountain Province.

Spectators in a random interview, said the flow of traffic was well-organized. Vehicles were parked in designated areas, the ground of SMV church where meals and snacks were sold and the main road where goods were displayed in the past years were cleared.

It was observed there were few visitors due to perception that they are afraid of the effects of the novel corona virus outbreak.   

Northern zone was composed of barangays Fedilisan, Pide, Aguid, Banga-an, Tanulong, Madongo.

Dagdag, Patay and Demang were central zone while south central and southern zones were represented by Ambasing, Balugan, Ankileng, Nacagang, Suyo, Taccong.

The barangays of Antadao, Kilong, Teptep-an Sur, and Tetep-an Norte composed the eastern zone.