Guimaras tourism seen to rise this Holy Week

By Jeehan V. Fernandez

All "sails” lead to Guimaras Island as Catholic faithful and tourists are expected to grace the province's popular staging of “Pagtaltal” or the reenactment of Christ's death this Lenten Holiday.

The huge cross atop Balaan Bukid in Jordan, Guimaras.

Aquilino Secusana, 69, the founder of “Pagtaltal” is optimistic that a lot of domestic and foreign tourists will be coming over to witness the play on Jesus Christ's crucifixion.

Secusana cited that going to the island on a boat ride is not monotonous while its land transportation is cheap and accessible, thus attracting more visitors to the province.

He added that green mountains and terrains planted with fruit trees, especially mangoes would be a welcome treat to nature lovers who could also visit the caves and beaches or skirt along the cove and rock formation of Guimaras.

Now on its 30th year, Secusana recalled how the idea of “Pagtaltal” came to his mind: “My conscience dictated me to portray the sufferings of Christ on Lenten season to have a visual aid for the young generation for them to witness how He was crucified”.

Secusana noted that after he got the “blessing” of the parish priest of Jordan then, he wrote the script based on the “Seven Last Words”, bible and “Station of the Cross” and looked for casts who would be characters of biblical names, then created their costumes.

“So many people were touched by a very simple way of presentation,” Secusana said adding that the first recital was in a pantomime form. “I don't have funds then,” he added.

Secusana also noted that the after three years of staging the play, he invited foreign dignitaries to observe the presentation. Among them were Ambassadors of Mexico, Costa Rica , Argentina , Nigeria , Spain and Germany .

Other special guests then, were representatives from the United Nations, Netherland , United States of America , Canada , national government officials and US military attaché. Secusana said that this time, he is expecting the Spanish Ambassador to come.

“Pagtaltal is known far and wide,” Secusana told The News Today, adding that it was once featured in Discovery Channel to the global audience. He stressed it is the only religious festival represented in WOW Philippines program of the Department of Tourism (DOT).

Considered as his “legacy”, Secusana is pleased to note that “Pagtaltal” now gets support from the local government units of Guimaras. He cited the municipal government of Jordan has allotted a P120,000 budget while the province gave P80,000.

However, the “Pagtaltal” did not have any funding from the regional tourism department.

Secusana is inviting everyone to watch the replication of Christ's sufferings. The two and a half hour play with 160 casts will be staged on Good Friday, March 25 at the Jordan covered gym beginning at 12 noon.