SIBONGA, CEBU — For the first time after the pandemic, this town’s Bonga Festival made a successful comeback, and Gov. Gwen Garcia made sure to be present and share in the people’s celebration on Wednesday, August 9.
Under the noonday heat of the sun, Sibonga Mayor Lionel Bacaltos welcomed Gov. Garcia into the town’s sports oval where the festival showdown of 12 participating contingents from the town’s 25 barangays was held.
Gov. Garcia was moved by the facility’s condition since the people had to scamper for whatever shade they can hide under after the oval’s roofing had been destroyed by Supertyphoon Odette.
She promised that the Capitol would take over in renovating the roof of the oval so that the next festival could be held in much cooler environment next year.
She also assured the crowd that the town’s port located at the back of the municipal hall will be restored after it was literally shattered by Odette.
For each of the 12 contingents whose performers come from different schools of the town, Gov. Garcia pledged P100,000 — or P1.2 million — in subsidy in order to help defray expenses.
“Gikan sa kaniadto, hantod karon, ug sa mga adlaw, katuigan nga umaabot, samtang ania pa si Gwen Pilar Garcia, laumi, Sibonga, nga kanunay gayud kamo akong panggaon ug motabang og hain ta makatabang,” Gov. Garcia said in her speech.
Bonga Festival is one of the major highlights of the town’s fiesta celebration in honor of its patron saints, Our Lady of Pilar and Santa Filomena. In Cebuano, “Bonga” means the fruit of one’s labor that God has bestowed on the industrious and persevering. | Ioannes P. Arong