Sto. Niño festivities not over yet

Filipinos in many areas of the country paid homage yesterday to the Holy Infant Jesus with the traditional raucous festivities. Devotees were unfazed by criticisms that most of these activities include pagan practices. They let their hair down and enjoyed the festivities.

The most rambunctious, of course, is the Cebu festivities where some 80,000 joined the many Sto. Niño celebrations all over the city, including the Ayala Center. And in Kalibo, no less than President Arroyo boosted the celebration with her visit and the inauguration of the P1.7-million five-classroom building of the Aklan National High School.

GMA also joined briefly the revelers after the paepak healing ritual at the St. John the Baptist Cathedral.

Paepak means the practice of placing the Holy Infant’s image on the head of a sick person to aid healing.

In Negros Occidental, all roads led to Kabankalan City’s Sinulog festival where visitors enjoyed the various presentations, including the competition by various participating tribes in their cultural dances ala Ati-Atihan.

Although I was to scheduled to go there myself, an ear infection plus difficulty in hearing prevented me from joining members of my family, post the cremation of my brother-in-law, Ernesto Llavore, at the Chinese Cemetery.

Instead, my son Rolando Junior invited the entire Espina-Llavore clan to the Southern Negros Occidental City where they truly enjoyed the spectacles. Most of my in-laws come from Luzon and really enjoyed their first visit to Kabankalan and the Sinulog spectacle.

In Iloilo City, it was Dinagyang. But one thing that bothered me was that there was hardly any televised coverage of the city’s tourism attraction. Most likely, what happened was that TV coverages were spread out to many areas.

But one thing that was exhilarating was that there were no untoward incidents except a sea mishap in Southern Leyte’s San Ricardo town that reportedly killed 16 people, many of them children.

What makes it truly sad is that the accident happened in good weather. According to the report by Southern Leyte Gov. Rosette Lerias, a person fell overboard and the passengers rushed to one side to see what happened, causing the boat to capsize.

Other than this, Filipinos paid tribute to the Holy Child Jesus with almost complete abandon, despite some misgivings by some clerics that the various activities included non-Christian practices.

More Ati-Atihan

Jaro, Iloilo is now frenziedly preparing for the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Candles. Candelaria, as the festival is called, is an occasion for the city’s elite to dig their closets and dry-clean orange gowns and the men folk to come out with their coats and formal wear.

On a more subdued level, Bacolod’s Our Lady of Candles parish is also gearing up for the same festival next week. Most of the parishioners are devotees from Iloilo City and they intend to celebrate the feast with the same zest as their Iloilo counterparts.

But there is still the Ati-Atihan of Cadiz City and the various towns of Aklan as well as other parts of the country.

For me, however, the most interesting is the Ati-Ati of Ibajay, Aklan. Actually, this falls on the last Sunday of the month. Since a few years back, my late wife and I had attended the Ati-Ati which has been preserved in its pristine form. It remains a non-commercialized festival and basically retains its religious and cultural form with hardly any commercial advertisements or sponsors.

Ibajay’s Ati-Ati had gradually attracted more foreign visitors from Boracay, which is just nearby. It actually remains what it is — an occasion for family reunions. Devotees of the Sto. Niño, especially those who had gone abroad, come home to comply with a commitment to pay homage to the Holy Child for past favors for the family or personal concerns.

The image of the Sto. Niño is taken out of the parish convent and escorted by hundreds — even thousands — of devotees waving palm fronds and branches of trees shouting all the time Viva Señor Sto. Niño.

The poles of the participants are festooned with food packages. These may be given to passersby or strangers. The carriages of the participating barangays are decorated with the products of these villages. Some are decorated with charcoal-broiled shrimps and fish. There are also bananas, corn, etc.

And, of course, the ubiquitous lechons (roasted pigs) which passersby or viewers often end up bidding for.

That’s only the commercial facet of the entire proceedings. Otherwise, it is simply what it is — a purely religious and cultural tradition sans sponsorship by the big commercial firms that have infected Kalibo’s Ati-Atihan.

Hala Bira!

Speculation ups sugar prices

Whether we like it or not, in Western Visayas the primary concern is sugar, especially its millgate prices. As already reported in previous columns, millgate prices went up from P1070.82 in the La Carlota area to P1,098.57 per Lkg. in Negros Oriental’s Bais area, P1090 in Ursumco and P1097.80 at the Victorias-Manapla-Cadiz cooperative of Negros Occidental.

As clarified by Sugar Administrator James Ledesma, it is not really the tightness of sugar supply. As I had earlier pointed out, too, it is the perceived tightness of supply that is propelling speculation.

"Prices are high simply because of speculation. Much of the quedans being bought every week are simply for position; they are not withdrawn as they have not been sold to an end user yet. This positioning for future use is simply speculation," Ledesma stressed.

Besides, he said, some new players have entered the various bidding centers. "Again, a clear sight of a market open to speculation," he added.

Ledesma stressed that the sugar inventory to date shows 400,00 metric tons. The rate of production is about twice the withdrawal every week as the industry is reaching the peak months of milling.

On the other hand, the world market prices continue to go up. This means the cost of bringing in imported sugar into the domestic market is also rising.

"This makes speculation more inviting," he added.

The world price phenomenon has effectively curtailed sugar smuggling. So whatever illegally sourced sugar the market used to get in the past is not part of the equation today. "All these factors together explain why we are having the bullrun of domestic prices," Ledesma explained.

On the other hand, he said that there will be definitely no shortage for the next six months. The stocks for January will rise to around 500,000 metric tons. By April, Ledesma predicted that there will be 600,000 mts. And the SRA projection of a six-percent drop in production for the current crop year will mean that the country will produce two million metric tons.

"We are just setting the facts as they are so we do not add fuel to more positioning and speculation that may have negative effects on the industry in the long term," Ledesma added.

That should relieve both producers and consumers. But one thing that could not be controlled is speculation, which is part of the market forces that influence prices and decisions.

Even as we go to print, Luis Tongoy, chair of the Confed Negros-Panay Chapter, informed me that world market prices jumped up to more than 15 cents per pound. What is its implication? Simple. That by the end of the milling season there will be no available supply of cheap sugar. That explains the scramble for supply as a hedge for that period, he added.

ADDENDUM. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of Western Visayas filed before the Iloilo City Prosecutor’s Office two counts of murder and one count of parricide against the two sons of Francisco "Bobby" Tan who was found dead inside the two-story family mansion in Molo District Monday with his wife, Cynthia Zayco-Tan, and their six-year old daughter Kathy. Both, however, vigorously denied they were involved in the killing of their father, stepmother, step sister. The two are Archie Tan, 23, and his brother, John Michal, 18. Police insisted that the evidence they have gathered so far showed that the brothers were in the house when the victims were killed. "It was well-planned, well-executed and pre-meditated criminal offense," claimed Superintendent Renato Gumban, CIDG director for Western Visayas.