Panaad Sa Negros 2009 Festival Dance Competition

One of the reasons why Panaad Sa Negros is touted as the Festival of all Festivals is because the different Festivals of Negros Occidental competes against each other as the Best of Festivals.

A huge 15,000 crowd came to witness the performances of the 23 competing festivals and one guest performer during the Panaad 2009 Opening last April 18. Masskara Festival of Bacolod City performed as a non-competing festival.

Bailes de Luces of the Municipality of La Castellana emerged as this year’s Best Festival. Bailes de Luces or “dances of lights” is celebrated every December where dancers make use of colorful lights in their costumes.

Second Place was the Kalag-Kalag Festival of the Municipality of Isabela celebrated every All Souls Day. Kalag-Kalag Festival is unique since unlike most festivals which is celebrated in a pageantry of colorful costumes and festive mood, Kalag-Kalag features characters associated with Halloween.

The colorful Pintaflores Festival of San Carlos City bagged the third place. Pintaflores is celebrated every November 5 as the culmination of the Feast of St. Charles Borromeo, the city’s patron saint.

Watch this short video of the Panaad sa Negros Festival Dance Competition. Not all competing festivals are featured here but at least those who were not able to watch it will have an idea of how the dancers performed despite of the rain.

La Basilia White Beach Resort

La Basilia White Beach Resort in Sipaway Island is a favorite weekend destination for locals and tourists who are traveling to Sipaway on a budget. It provides decent accommodation at an affordable rate. La Basilia is located in Brgy. Ermita, Sipaway Island, just less than 15 minutes away from San Carlos City on a pump boat.

Amenities

The resort is ideal for weekend outings but amenities are not really designed for longer periods of stay. There is no 24-hour electricity and there is not much activity to do in the resort except for swimming and for picnic.

Rates
Entrance Fee            P 10.00
Day Cottage            P 200.00
Economy                 P 500.00 – good for 4 persons
Standard                 P 800.00 – good for 7 persons
De Luxe                  P 1,800.00
Conference Room   P 1,000.00
Session Area           P 2,500.00 – good for 20 persons
Floating Cottage     P 300.00

How to get there

Sipaway Island is accessible from San Carlos City by pump boat. The fare is P10 with travel time of less than 15 minutes. The pumpboat can also be hired at P190 and just tell the boatman to drop you at La Basilia.

For Reservation

For inquiries and reservation, call Ms. Len-Len at cell number (0916) 4611742 or Roldan at (0909) 6402996.
Travel Tips

Make sure it’s not low tide on the day you want to book with La Basilia. The beach is not that good for swimming since the shoreline is too far from the resort. Extra drinking water and food will come in handy as there is not much choice in the island.

Bacolod City, San Carlos City Featured in Masigasig

Bacolod City and San Carlos City were featured in the October and November issue of Masigasig Magazine, respectively. Masigasig is a free magazine of Globe Telecoms and it features topics on entrepreneurship.

The feature on the two cities highlighted the best practices, business environment, tourism and investment opportunities. This is a good promotion for the two cities considering Masigasig is free and its readers are those who are mostly entrepreneurs and tourists.

Where to get a copy of Masigasig:

• You can read or download Masigasig Magazine issues from Globe Business Website.
• You’ll also get a copy of Masigasig Magazine everytime you buy Entrepreneur Magazine.
• Visit the nearest Globe Telecom Business Center and ask for a copy of the Masigasig Magazine.
• Visit the nearest SME Center of teh Dept. of Trade & Industry in your province for a copy of Masigasig Magazine.

San Carlos City’s Pintaflores Festival 2008

Aside from the celebration of Negros Day or the Cinco de Noviembre, another important event is celebrated in San Carlos City, the Pintaflores Festival. The festival is also in celebration of the Feast of San Carlos de Borromeo, Patron Saint of San Carlos City, whose feast falls on November 4.

This First Class Component City of Negros Occidental celebrates the Pintaflores Festival every November 3-5. The highlight of the festival is a Streetdance and Ritual Competition on November 5. Here, streetdancers don colorful ethnic-inspired costumes and floral body tattoos. The floral body tattoos are reminiscent of the tattooed Visayans of pre-Spanish Negros. Upon the arrival of the Spanish settlement to the island of Negros, they discovered this unique tribal ritual of flower body tattooing and dubbed it as “Pintados de Flores” where the by-word Pintaflores is rooted.

There are two categories, the Open Invitational which is participated by cities and municipalities in Negros Island and the Pinta Bata which is participated by elementary schools. The streetdancing culminates in a ritual/showdown competition at the San Carlos City Auditorium.

A Search for Miss San Carlos City pageant ads glamor to the festival. The pageant likewise showcase the beauty of the Negrense women and the creativity of local designers in the colorful costumes of the contestants. This year, Miss Danielle Villaflor bested other contestants to be the Miss San Carlos City 2008.

People who have experienced this colorful festival will surely attest that the costumes and synchronized movements of the contingents to the rythmic beat of the drums and music will make them come again to witness the Pintaflores Festival.

San Carlos City – An Enchanting Experience

I’ve been to San Carlos City, Negros Occidental several times already but last week’s trip was the first time that I get to visit Brgy. Codcod, the Vegetable Basket of Negros. It was on official trip so we asked assistance from the City Government and we were not disappointed. The people of San Carlos City, from the leadership of Mayor Bong Lacson down to his staff, know how to pamper their guests.

I have so many things to share about our San Carlos City experience that I believe a single post would not be enough. For this first installment, I would like to feature three sites in San Carlos City where people’s belief in folklore stories are manifested. It’s common in Filipino culture to believe in the existence of entities from another dimension. This belief is not only limited to a personal level but also affects and manifests in a person’s job and in the way he deals with his environment.

Enchanted Rock

Off to a dirt road in Brgy. Prosperidad, San Carlos City, a traveler will not miss a big rock right in the middle of a forked-road separating the road to the left going to Canlaon City, Oriental Negros from the road to the right going to Brgy. Codcod, San Carlos City.

A San Carlos City staff shares an anecdote about the rock. When the road was being cleared, two bulldozers malfunctioned in the process of destroying the rock. The workers, fearing that they will bear the brunt of whatever is in the rock tried talking to it.

“Forgive us but it was the Engineer who ordered us to do this,” the workers said while hammering the rock.  When the Engineer learned about this, he got angry at his workers and spoke to the rock saying, “It was the Mayor who ordered me to do this.” When the Mayor learned about what the Engineer spoke to the rock, he got angry and ordered that the rock be left as is. I don’t know how true this story is but there is the rock to prove that somehow it survived.

Enchanted Camachile Tree

The shortest route going to San Carlos City is the road via Don Salvador Benedicto. This road network was constructed where there used to be lush green forests. The roads cut through mountains and on mountainsides creating zigzag roads akin to those going to Baguio City.

Nearing San Carlos City, you will find a camachile tree (local name kamunsil) right in the middle of the road. A Filipino would easily understand why that tree was not cut down during road construction. It must be enchanted and inhabited by mystical creatures and no person was brave enough to dare cut down the tree lest they earn the ire of its residents.

Enchanted Balete Tree

This is the second time that I’ve been to Sipaway Island and the second time to see the century old Balete Tree at Brgy. San Juan. Our tricycle driver/guide told us that no unexplained incidents related to the Balete Tree were noted in recent years like it used to decades ago.

The tree is inside San Juan Elementary School and enclosed in a fence so that the children and other visitors would not be able to disturb it. As if this is not warming enough, a notice was posted on it supposedly from the Balete King, to add drama to it.

When we learned from the driver that local TV Host Angelo Anggolo and his wife climbed the Balete Tree, my officemates and I got challenged and we decided to do the same. However, of the three of us who dared, I was the only one who successfully reached the top. It was a double success for me, I conquered my fear of heights and fear of the unknown.

7 Negros Occidental Cities Ready to Streamline Business Licensing System

Seven cities in Negros Occidental yesterday forged a Memorandum of Understanding with Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) for the implementation of Streamlining Business Permits and Licensing System (BPLS) Project.  This project is aimed at upgrading their business permits and licensing issuance system, a common backlog in starting a business.

Volker Steigerwald, Visayas coordinator of GTZ-SMEDSEP, said that after piloting the project in Bacolod City and Ormoc City , they are now ready to replicate it in other parts of the Visayas. The cities of Bago, Cadiz, Kabankalan, Sagay, San Carlos, Silay, and Talisay will replicated the Business Permits and Licensing System which has been proven to considerably cut the processing time for business licensing.

Present at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding were Mayors Jose Montelibano of Silay, Alfredo Marañon of Sagay, Eugenio Jose Lacson of San Carlos, Pedro Zayco of Talisay and Salvador Escalante who were the signatories in behalf of their respective LGUs. Bago Mayor Ramon Torres and Talisay Vice Mayor Neil Lizares, who was supposed to represent Mayor Eric Saratan, failed to come.

GTZ will provide technical assistance through capacity building by training the LGU personnel. The local government on their part will assign a focal person who will work closely with DTI and GTZ in the implementation of the BPLS Project.