Pagsanjan celebrates Bangkero Festival

PAGSANJAN Falls is one of the most memorable images of Philippine tourism dating back to the 1970s, and has appeared in countless travel posters and postcards.

“Shooting the rapids” on the way to the fabled Magdapio Falls is among the mustdo countryside day trips for foreign and local tourists. This adrenaline-pumping activity remains on top of the bucket list of travelers more than four decades later.

To relive its old glory, the town of Pagsanjan in Rizal welcomes summer with the Bangkero Festival on March 10 to 19 themed “Pagkakaisa at Saya Tungo sa Tagumpay.”

Now on its 18th edition, the weeklong festivity is a tribute to the bangkeros or the boatmen who skillfully maneuver the boat and shoot the rapids all the way to the picture-perfect falls.

The festival showcases the town’s march to progress as a result of its tourism and investment promotional efforts.

Among the activities lined up are a flu- vial parade at the Bumbungan River with gaily-decorated floats made out of dug-out canoes, and the Ginoong Bangkero Male Pageant.

Spicing up the celebration are a sagwan (paddle) painting contest, local “kakanin” cooking contest, entertainment shows, native games, Zumba sessions, brass band parades, dragonboat race, and a pageant for boatmen. Festivities draw to a close with a river regatta where boatmen showcase their paddling prowess, and the Lakan and Binibining Pagsanjan pageant coronation in the evening with celebrity guests led by Dawn Chang of Pinoy Big Brother fame.