Magalang’s ‘Lubenas’ draws hundreds of tourists
MAGALANG – Mayor Malu Paras Lacson of this town hailed the recent staging of the Lubenas Festival, which attracted hundreds of tourists.
Lubenas is the parade of lanterns made by local folks from Magalang. The Magalang lanterns are predominantly white and has no tails.
Lacson cited the 20 barangays which participated, saying they are all w i nner s.
The first-term mayor, who revived the centuries old tradition in 2016, said the festival spurs economic and social growth.
“Magalang is becoming more popular now because of Lubenas and other activities,” she added.
At the Lubenas parade and tradition on December 13, Barangay Sta. Lucia emerged over-all winner. They scored a grandslam feat. They won P100,000.
Barangay Sta. Cruz placed second and got P50,000.
Other winners were San Jose, fourth place; San Nicolas, fifth place. This year, Magalang won two national awards for the preservation of tradition and heritage.
The local government unit, headed by Lacson and Vice-Mayor Norman Lacson, received the first Philippine heritage award for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
President Rodrigo Duterte handed over the award to the mayor and vice-mayor on October 24 at Malacañang.
Earlier, the local government unit was awarded first place for best practices in community-based responsible tourism (community-based heritage conservation project/program) category by the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) and the Department of Tourism (DOT) Best Tourism Practices
of the Philippines Awards, otherwise known as the ATOP-DOT Pearl Awards, in Cagayan De Oro City.
Ryan Miranda, Magalang tourism officer, disclosed that they won the two prestigious national awards for supporting the Lubenas tradition of their town. It involves the creation of the traditional Magalang lanterns.
The project’s name that won the award for Magalang was “Ing Banal a Batuin Qng Magalang: Lubenas Ning Pasku” (The holy stars of Magalang: Nine days of Christmas procession with traditional Kapampangan lanterns and masses).
— Chris Navarro