15 theft incidents reported 'Kabanhawan' festival draws large crowd

CEBU, Philippines - Fireworks covered the early morning sky while little children dressed as angels sang songs to welcome the risen Jesus Christ. This was the scene during the Kabanhawan Festival 2009 yesterday held in the Municipality of Minglanilla.

Hundreds of people gathered at the town’s sports complex in barangay Poblacion to witness the yearly presentation of the “sugat,” the meeting of the risen Christ and his mother.

The “sugat” is traditionally celebrated every dawn of Easter Sunday to cap the commemoration of the Holy Week in most churches, but Minglanilla has become popular to many because of the way the locals present it.

Because of this, the event has become not only a crowd-drawer but has also lured a number of unscrupulous individuals who want to take advantage of the large crowd.

At the end of the 30-minute presentation, at least 15 people reported to police after they lost their cell phones while witnessing the event.

Dante Cabañero, 30, resident of sitio Mananga, Talisay City later ended up at the police detention cell after he was caught red-handed picking a cell phone from the pocket of one of the spectators.

Three cell phones were later recovered from Cabañero’s possession, including two Nokia 3310 units and one Nokia 2300. However, no one from the 15 complainants has claimed ownership over the three cell phones.

Two of the victims were Merly Adolfo of sitio Mananga, Lawaan III, Talisay City who lost her Olympus Digital Camera worth P23,000, while the other one was Emilyn Pelaez who lost her Motorola cell phone worth P20,000.

Despite the reports of pick pocketing incidents, organizer of the Kabanhawan described this year’s event as a big success.

Victor Cuenco, the artistic director of Kabanhawan, said that in order to make the event more colorful, they have added 50 more angels to last year’s 150. According to him, the presentation is “getting more and more exciting” every year. — AJ de la Torre/WAB (THE FREEMAN)