Carcar's Kabkaban Festival 2006 has new concept

They say Gringo Honasan may run again for senator in the 2007 midterm election. Despite a broken leg?

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Gringo broke his leg when he tried to evade capture by jumping out of a window. That's what his fans like about Gringo. He's not afraid to break his leg in the name of freedom.

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I saw a t-shirt with this printed on it: "Even if we cannot be happy, we must always be cheerful." Reminds me of what a medical intern advised me: "If you got insomnia," he said, "just sleep the night away."

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Levity aside, the left leaning Pinoy militants should be thankful that they're not in communist Vietnam. Here they're free to hold rallies against the Asean Summit like they did in front of the CICC. There - in communist Vietnam - no one is allowed to demo against the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum attended by head of state including US President Bush. So what more do these leftist militants want?

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They're painting green the decrepit houses in the slums of Mandaue City. Yes, as a makeup - a cosmetic job - to hide the squalor from the foreigners coming for the 12th Asean Summit. If Fil-Am journalist Johnny Brennan were still around he would be quoting the title of his Morning Times column "I Laugh Only."

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This cosmetic job is really "laughable." And if there's someone in the foreign visitors' group who could speak Cebuano, he'd probably say: "Ilara mi tits."

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My Manila-based Cebuano friend Leonardo "Daido" Angel said no sweat, no money, no paint would have been wasted had those squatters in Mandaue's slums been ejected long, long ago "Now look at," he said tauntingly. "Nakagasto na hinoon ang gobyerno sa ginalon nga pintal." High time he said that Mayor Teddy Ouano launched a no non-sense housing program for Mandaue's homeless.

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The Carcar Heritage Conservation Society is now busy preparing for the Kabkaban Festival 2006. This is in celebration of the declaration of St. Catherine of Alexandria Church as a diocesan shrine. There will be a Festival of Lights on Friday, Nov. 24 from 3 PM to 7 PM. "This is an all-new Cebu night concept," according to Jerry Martin Noel Alfafara, PRO of the CHCS.

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This will be something new to see and experience. Some 216 dancers from nine school dance contingents wearing specially designed lantern headgear and carrying pairs of hand lights will illuminate Sta. Catalina, Carcar's "Heritage Street," lined with the town's largest, oldest and most famous heritage houses, as Carcar's beloved patroness passes by during the evening procession. This according to the PRO of the CHCS.

Carcar holds the Kabkaban Festival on the third Sunday of November to coincide with the Nov. 24 and 25 Carcar town fiesta in honor of St. Catherine of Alexandria. The Carcar Heritage Conservation Society manages the festival.