A Fiesta, Holidays and an Accident - a Successful Diyandi Festival 2017 Review Amidst Crisis

A Successful Fiesta Celebration Amidst Crisis

September 29. 2017, Iligan City, Lanao del Norte.

Iligan City in Lanao del Norte is celebrating Diyandi Festival every September 29, honoring the patron Saint Michael the Archangel. But at dawn on this very day, people living nearby the Tubod Bridge were disturbed by an eerie noise of  a possible collision. It was then confirmed that a red sedan had accidentally caught the river waters below the freeway instead of passing by the bridge itself. According to witnesses, the driver was drunk and was over-speeding towards the bridge but did not make it to pass thru it and missed the highway bridge, instead, had passed under it. Luckily, the driver is okey and only the sedan suffers the reckless act of its owner. Besides having this scenario the talk of the day in the city, it never affect the day's final preparation of this very day's fiesta celebration.

The Crisis.
Iligan City has been through tough times because of the Marawi Crisis which is just an hour away from the war zone. It has been a history in Mindanao when President Rodrigo Roa Duterte declared a Martial Law within the second largest island group next to Luzon last May 23, 2017. Checkpoints here, checkpoints there, the city's security is so strict that the local armed forces cannot afford to get loosed of any untoward incident or harassment from the sympathizers of the rebel-terrorist  and ISIS inspired Maute Group especially that people would flood the city because of the many activities lined up by the City Tourism. In effect, aside from the government armed forces' visibility around the region, each Barangay as well as subdivisions within the city had hired private and voluntary security assistance from people of respective zones just to ensure safety around the vicinity. The city also did not nullify the curfew hours from 11PM to 4AM everyday besides having the celebration to prevent possible terror act. People react differently to this curfew implementation but still cannot do against it unless they are willing to spend the night in jail in case seized after the curfew.

The Preparation.

To officially start the celebration, September 20 was declared a non-working holiday giving way to "Pagkanaug ni Senior San Miguel". Devotees from many places participated the event as part of their personal and spiritual convictions, and for some, an annual "Panata" for sentimental reasons. In relation to this event was a parade along the city with the statue of the patron saint and many individual devotees bringing with them Santo Niño and the Black Nazarene. Participants enjoyed every moment and just ignored the stress the event bring along due to their deep devotion to the patron, and especially when the music "Pit Señor" is played. The crowd also danced and sung with praise with the tune of drums and cymbals and with big speakers playing pre-recorded musics for the event.

The Activities.
Like any other fiestas, many activities like Street Dancing, Beauty Pageant, Motor Show, Moto Circuit and more had likely occupied the streets and stadiums by spectators from around the city and from nearby municipalities. There is also what is called a "Mugna", a local term for a place of recreation and, a carnival of rides, night markets and fun gambling which made it the busiest place during the celebration. There, one can enjoy rides like Ferris wheel, vikings, horror cabs, bump rubber boats made of big interior tires of two seats equipped with motors and steering wheels and etc. According to the fiesta amusement park tenants of "Mugna", they made less money than their previous hosting of the carnival. The present area of this year's "Mugna" which is situated in a vacant lot along C3 Road (Circumferential Road 3) in Tipanoy, Iligan City, has a smaller area compared to the previous "Mugna" sites. Previous sites were the now location of just recently opened Robinsons Mall, and last year's at Saray, Tibanga which is rumored as the site to be constructed with a new mall player in the city, the KCC Mall. Both of these locations have big areas that can accommodate big crowds and are neater than now stationed "Mugna" in Tipanoy. One main reason sited for the limited tenants' profitability is the implementation of the curfew. People would stop riding and enjoying the carnival after it, meaning, there's no more gain after the allotted time. But during fiesta eve and the main day, curfew has been extended, at least adding up to tenants' yield.

Impact to Traffic.
It cannot be argued that parades can cause congestion of traffic and even a complete stop when it crosses highway intersections especially during working days. And of course the city cannot schedule many parades during weekends due to the timeline of activities.

Despite all these, the public is considerate enough to respect the activity and just accept the fact on a possible tardy in office time-in logs.

Furthermore about traffic, "Mugna", which is situated on a barangay with limited road spans (barangay roads), has been flooded side-by-side with parked motorcycles and private cars that cause too much stress to commuters and riders. Due to the restricted parking spaces outside "Mugna", there has been an allotted parking space inside the amusement field that even contributed to the congestion of the now composite people-vehicle traffic. Too much hassle were encountered by people living after Brgy, Tipanoy because there was no detour of vehicles as the main entrance of "Mugna" is located at the main road, the one and only road to pass going to areas after the park.

Overall Assessment.
The fiesta celebration is a very successful activity this year. Despite the traffic problems mentioned, there has been no significant incidences that might cancel the event, especially, considering the very sensitive threat of terror attacks. Curfew did something special to the order and safety of the city, and maintaining its post and goal of a crime manageable city, not only during the fiesta celebration but since Marawi Crisis sparked. KUDOS to the City Management.

Should "Mugna" be situated again in Brgy Tipanoy or other barangays with limited road spans that could duplicate the current traffic scenario, for sure the City Tourism will have a plan to avoid same situation to recur by providing a detour for vehicles. This could be discussed during the post assessment meeting.

The fiesta was concluded by the "Pagsaka ni Senior San Miguel" on September 29, 9 days after its "Pagkanaug". The city also declared a non-working holiday on this day and on the 30th as rest day. This is a good news to all workers around the city as the holiday declaration of 29th and 30th were for both private and public institutions.