The Buglasan Festival of Festivals that is held every third week of October will now be moved to the month of December.

“It (Buglasan festival) will be held on December 21, 2007 to January 1, 2008,” confirmed Myla Mae Bromo-Abellana, senior tourism operations officer of Negros Oriental Provincial Tourism Office.

Proposal

Governor Emilio Macias II proposed for the postponement of the Buglasan activities sometime in June, according to Abellana.

She said the governor saw significance to hold the province’s festival in December.

It was on the 1st of January that the separation of the two islands — Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental — took place. Abellana said it is for this reason that the governor wanted to culminate the activity on January 1.

New name and venue

The festival will no longer be called Buglasan Festivals of Festival. Instead, it will be named
Buglas Festival.

“The change in name was to differentiate it from the Buglasan in October,” said Abellana.

Negros Island was originally named “Buglas.” But the Spaniards changed it to Negros because of the Negritos (dark-skinned people) that inhabited the island.

The activities though for the Buglas Festival are more or less the same with the events lined up for the previously held Buglasan Festivals.

Abellana also said the Sidlakang Negros Village will be the new site of the Buglas Festival.

The Buglasan Festival is usually being held at the Capitol grounds.

Participating local government units (LGUs) in the Buglasan Festival before would have to build their booths (a temporary structure) at the Capitol grounds with a budget of P50,000.

This year though in the Buglas Festival, the Macias administration has decided to construct permanent structures, where the LGUs can display their products.

“All they (participating LGUs of Buglas Festival) have to do now is to beautify the structures and set up their products there,” said Abellana.

A total of 25 booths are planned to be built at the Sidlakang Negros Village since the province of Negros Oriental is composed of 25 LGUs.

The tourism officer said Governor Macias envisioned the Sidlakang Negros Village to be an all-year-round site for festivals and future events of the province, which is why permanent structures are being constructed there.

Due to lack of time however in the preparation of the Buglas Festival considering it was only recently that the postponement of the activities was confirmed, Abellana admitted that only five booths will be finished in December.

She said in the meantime the rest of the participating LGUs will have to build temporary structures for their booths.

Opposition

The changes in the Buglasan activities gathered negative comments from some officials.

Negros Oriental 2nd district Representative George Arnaiz, also a former governor, has expressed objection to Governor Macias’s decision in moving the festivity to December.

In a news website, he said there is a reason why the Buglasan Festivals of Festival is being celebrated in October.

Among the reasons cited by Representative Arnaiz was that all LGUs have no other activities in October, thus they could participate in the festivity.

Even tourism officer Abellana has her own negative comments about the postponement of the Buglasan activities.

She said: “The Buglasan Festival is known to be celebrated in October. Hotels are already fully-booked for October since tourists already made their reservations so that they could witness the festival.”

Abellana admitted that they have no idea yet of what is going to happen if tourists learn about the change in schedule.

The Provincial Tourism Office already has the calendar of activities for the Buglas Festival. As promised, we have posted the calendar of activities just recently with some additional updates as there has been a new schedule for the Buglas Festival.

–>