By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
Bago City in Negros Occidental is now all set for the 125th Cinco de Noviembre celebration, with various activities now lined up on Sunday, November 5.
Mae Ann Furtos, city tourism operations officer, said the very essence of Al Cinco de Noviembre is the ingenuity and bravery of the valiant hero, General Juan Araneta and his Bagonhon troops, with the forces from the north led by General Aniceto Lacson.
Furtos said the celebration is also called a “historical bluff,” as troops from Bago used nipa (coconut fronds) as “rifles” and amakan (rolled bamboo mats) as “cannon” in order to fool the Spaniards into surrender in 1898.
“It was a bloodless revolt, and through which, the Negrenses were freed from the 300-year Spanish tyranny,” Furtos said.
Among the activities lined up for the weekend celebration include a thanksgiving mass at St. John the Baptist Church at 7:00 a.m.
A wreath-laying ceremony will be followed at General Juan Araneta’s monument at 7:30 a.m., and a civic military parade at 8:00 a.m.
The city will host the 25th Sigabong sang mga Kanyon, wherein various villages in the city will parade their cannon replicas along the city’s major streets going to Bantayan Park.
Moreover, the Bago City Invitational Fancy Drill Competition will also return this year, after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Five local schools coming from various localities in Negros Occidental will participate in the competition.
The participating schools are Enriqueta Montilla de Esteban National High School in Pulupandan town; Lopez Jaena National High School and Minoyan National High School in Murcia town; and M.G. Medalla Integrated School and STI-West Negros University in Bacolod City.
Other activities include the Clean and Green Awarding Ceremony at 11:30 a.m., and “Party at the Park” at the Bantayan Park at 7:00 p.m.
Al Cinco de Noviembre, also known as Negros Day, is celebrated every November 5 to commemorate the Negrenses’ revolt against the Spanish colonizers in 1898.
This year’s theme is “Honor, ingenuity and service on with the revolution of progress.”
Republic Act 6709 declares November 5, a special non-working holiday in Negros Occidental./DGB, WDJ