Glan celebrates culture and nature

MANILA, Philippines - CULTURE AND NATURE TOOK CENTER STAGE as the town of Glan recently celebrated its 101st founding anniversary and 16th Lubi-Lubi Festival.

Situated on the easternmost coast of Sarangani, the town is regarded as the province’s tourist capital with its mile- long powdery sand Gumasa Beach and heritage village with a cluster of American colonial-era houses.

The locus of the festival is the street dance parade and competition with revelers dressed in colorful costumes made out of lubi (coconut). Almost 90 percent of Glan’s total land area is planted with coconut trees, making the town the top producer of coconut and its derivatives in the Soccsksargen Region.

Street presentations portrayed old religious and animistic belief of the townsfolk about the tree of life, as well as traditional dances from Moro and lumad tribes.

Municipal Mayor James Yap Jr. said the festivity brought to the fore strides made by the town in the fields of tour- ism promotion, agriculture, heritage preservation and good governance.

Glan is a melting pot of Maguinadaon, Taosug, Blaan and T’boli indigenous tribes who live in peaceful coexistence. It also welcomed Indonesian migrants from North Sulawesi province who have made the town their adoptive home for generations.

A hamlet during the American-period Empire Province of Cotabato, Glan traces its roots to Oct. 8, 1914, when the pioneering batch of Colony No. 9 com- posed of the 16 families led by colony superintendent Tranquilino Ruiz from Cebu landed to populate the area.

The migration is part of the creation of agricultural colonies by virtue of Philip- pine Commission Acts Nos. 2254 and 2280 enacted in 1913 during the administration of Governor General Francis Harrison.

.Glan officially became a municipality on July 25, 1949 when President Quirino issued Executive Order No. 250 creating the town.

Its name is believed to have originated from the Maguindanaon word “Ma- galang” meaning sharp, referring to the weapons used in hunting.

Yap said that the laid-back town has been considered the heritage village of the province and Soccsksargen Region, evident in the ancestral homes which serve as living museums. Conservation policies are being formulated by the provincial and municipal governments and home-owners for the preservation of these art deco-inspired houses which have withstood the ravages of time.

He added that the town has also become  one of southern Mindanao’s tourist hot- spots because of Gumasa Beach, regarded as one of the best in Mindanao with its fine sand coves and crystalline water.

It broke into the national scene when it posted a record 120,000 attendance in the three-day Sarangani Bay Festival last May which featured sports and fit- ness events, beach-themed activities and coastal cleanups.

Yap said the award-winning event established new records and set a bench- mark on how beach partying could be environmentally sustainable. As a result, the town is recognized by the Department of Tourism Region 12 as a prime mover in the promotion of green tourism in Soccsksargen.

A new stomping ground in the town is the newly-opened Hacienda Don Juan, a private farm-ranch with a beach-front ancestral house-museum as centerpiece.