‘Begnas di Bauko’

Abstract

The study focused on the documentation of the ‘Begnas’ festival as practiced in Bauko. Specifically, it aimed to (1) describe the processes involved in the celebration of the festival, (2) identify the different activities of celebrating the festival, (3) determine the perceived contributions of the festival to the community, (4) identify the communicated values of the festival as perceived by the respondents, (5) determine the challenges in the celebration of the festival, (6) determine the suggestions of respondents for the improvement of the festival, and (7) to produce a promotional material for the ‘Begnas’ festival. The data were gathered through interview schedule with the key informants and to the community respondents. The five key informants are Mr. Arniel Bagayao, Administrative Officer IV; Mr. Walter Dalang, Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator; Mr. Tomas Tanggacan, Indigenous People Mandatory Representative; Ms. NimfaSiti, Administrative Aide VI; Ms. Glynese Kimmayong-Politchy, Administrative Aide VI-Municipal Tourism Action Officer. The study was conducted from January to March 2016 in Bauko, Mountain Province. The ‘Begnas’ festival in the municipality of Bauko was celebrated once a year, the day of which stated in the Municipal Ordinance No. 030-A as the 2nd Thursday of March of the year. ‘Begnas’ festival was celebrated to embody indigenous rituals and traditional practices of the people of Bauko. It mainly aims to encourage the youth about the cultural awareness with the unique traditions of Bauko and likewise to showcase tourism industry and nurturing the beneficial culture of the municipality. This was initiated by the Local Government (LGU) of Bauko. The processes involved in the festival are divided into four categories the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the ‘Begnas’ festival. In celebrating the ‘Begnas’ festival different activities were conducted. These activities were: ‘Pre-Begnas’ activity, opening program, agro-tourism trade and livelihood fair, cultural dances, competition and performing of rituals. The ‘Begnas’ festival contributed to the community where it increases income, promotes local products, increases awareness on environment preservation, promotes community participation, offers chance for socialization and relaxation of the community, promotes cultural awareness and the strengthening of ‘binnadang/ug-ugbo’ system. The communicated values included environment awareness, maintenance of the ‘binnadang’ system, strengthening community relationship and promoting culture of the community. However, behind the success of the celebration of the festival they still encountered problems such as insufficient funds, lack of comfortable and permanent venue, lack of confidence of community participants and lack of culture and tradition’s portrayal. It was recommended that organizers of the ‘Begnas’ festival may consider other means of promoting the festival such as production of promotional materials. They may also consider including evaluation from the community people, researching about the different cultures and traditional practices in Bauko and come up with any educational material for future generations to use. The Local Government of Bauko may also consider additional fund raising for the festival to enable them to produce promotional materials to add more activities and include Non-Government Organization and private entities to be part of the festival.