On the DOT
By Atty. Helen J. Camarista

140 festivals and counting

Western Visayas may appropriately be called “Region of Festivals”with the quantity and quality of festivals that it has. As of the latest count of the number of festivals registered with the Department of Tourism Region VI, there are already 140 festivals existing in Western Visayas and the number grows year after year. If we include other special events that are also crowd drawers and tourist attractions, the number can easily double. The oldest and grandest festivals in this region are among the best festivals the Philippines can offer to the world. Ati-atihan of Kalibo, Aklan, Dinagyang of Iloilo City, Masskara of Bacolod City, Pagtaltal sa Jordan and Manggahan of Guimaras, Sinadya sa Halaran, Kahilwayan of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo, and Binirayan of Antique, to name a few, are among the most colorful festivals in the 7,107 islands of this country.

Our festivals in the region are named interestingly. Some names need no explanation especially to the Western Visayans but others have been named in such a way that even the young locals do not know how to give a thorough explanation because only the old people in the villages know what the name of the festivals mean. One thing is sure, some organizers cannot seem to have enough of a festival name such one festival name is shared by two or more municipalities despite advise from this office that they should not have the same festival name as an older festival in this region or country as the case may be.

Interested parties may contact the DOT Region VI for clarification about Western Visayas festivals.

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Spanish 101

This writer was fuming mad last Friday upon taking hold of this newspaper (The News Today) where the title of the On the Dot column ¿Como? was changed to ‘Como?'. We thought some ignoramus tampered with the write up and changed the title and the Hasta la vista to Hasta la vista. Thursday this week, TNT Editor Erly Garcia called this writer to explain that the press computer is not compatible with this writer's computer such that the inverted question mark at the beginning of the word Como was changed and the italicized Hasta la Vista was no more. Those of us who took Spanish 101 in our college years and who were listening properly to our Spanish teachers would know that interrogative sentences should have inverted question mark (¿) before the sentence with a regular question mark (?) at the end of the sentence. The same position of the exclamation points is true with exclamatory sentences.

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Best of the Region in Intramuros

The Western Visayas showcase of the Best of the Region in Intramuros, Manila will be on June 13-30, 2005. The 6 provinces of Western Visayas, namely, Antique, Aklan, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental and the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo have signified their interest to participate in this tourism showcase that will focus on culture, art and history under the Ginintuang Pamana theme. A major component of the regional tourism showcase is investment promotion where possible tourist sites/facilities in the regions can be offered to prospective investors in the capital region.