The 14 Bae Naliyagan 2024 bets representing Agusan del Sur’s 13 towns and the lone Bayugan City. Photo courtesy of Bae Naliyagan-Agusan del Sur Facebook page.
PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 11 June) – This year’s celebration of the Naliyagan Festival, from June 12 to 17, is set to become livelier with a greater variety of crowd-drawing events, but will observe stricter protocols on the single-use plastics ban and child protection policy.
The new policy on child protection includes the prohibition of minors from drinking alcoholic beverages and from working in booths selling such drinks. This will be enforced throughout the duration of the festival.
Parents of minors are told to bring an identification card that tells the child’s name, address, name of parents or guardian and emergency mobile phone number.
A Child Protection Desk hotline number was posted at the Naliyagan Festival Facebook page and these numbers will be posted on tarpaulin around the venue.
The child security policy is part of the anticipation to manage a huge crowd. Last year, organizers claimed that 100,000 people filled Vice Ganda’s concert at the main venue, the Datu Lipus Makapandong Cultural Center, on June 17, 2023.
The prohibition on single-use plastics was first enforced in last year’s celebration, which saw VIP guests and top provincial officials, serving as models, bringing drinking tumblers and flasks.
Governor Santiago Cane Jr. said the ban on single-use plastics seeks not just to instill discipline among the people of Agusan del Sur but also to make the province free from the harm that single-use plastics bring to the environment.
He said that the province may already be lagging behind the good practices already done by big malls, where mallgoers were made to use reusable bags when they bought something.
The ban on single-use plastics is covered by Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 and the memorandum circular that the governor issued on Sept. 30, 2019.
One of the major highlights of the annual celebration is “Bae Naliyagan” beauty pageant on June 16, where 14 bets from the province’s 13 towns and one city will vie for the coveted crown.
Movie celebrities Kim Chu and Paulo Avelino will serenade the contestants during the Bae Naliyagan 2024 coronation night.
The opening event will be a mixture of paying tribute to the 126th Philippine Independence Day and another homage to the different Agusan Lumad groups through the tribal parade around the main thoroughfares of the 200-hectare provincial capitol complex, a Kalayaan jobs fair, tribalympics, bauto (banca) race at the government center lagoon, and Indigenous Peoples Night where Datu Waway Saway and the Talaandig Republic will entertain the crowd.
Day 2 will be dedicated to the Upland Sustainable Agriforestry Development (USAD) Day and the Bae Naliyagan Festival Costume Competition in the evening. USAD is the centerpiece program of the provincial government of Agusan del Sur to help lowly farmers uplift their living conditions with proper technology, including soil health test program.
Robotics technology enthusiasts will have a field day on Day 4 during the Department of Science and Technology Project Launching, Robotics Exhibition and Competition, a first in the 32 years of the annual festival.
Capping the six-day event will be the province’s 57th founding anniversary celebration, with the traditional Binaga Tu Naliyagan or grilling of the local delicacy mudfish (locally called Haluan), which will be participated by all provincial capitol offices and national government agencies.
Festival goers will have a grand time enjoying the live concert of the popular band SB19 at 8 p.m. onwards and the much awaited grand fireworks display that will last for several minutes which will formally close the festivities.
Other popular performers in the six-day event includes Apo Hiking Society on June 15, Arthur Nery and Zack Tabudlong on June 14, and rappers Skusta Clee and Flow G on June 13.
Several Mindanao bands, including the local Agusan Marsh Band and Palalabs Band, will perform nightly at the Second Stage near the Jose Rizal statue. (Chris V. Panganiban / MindaNews)