LIGHTORIENTAL MINDORO AND CELEBRATES LIFE
AS SUMMER WENT INTO HIGH gear Oriental Mindoro celebrated the province’s rich nature and culture in their awardwinning Pandang Gitab festival earlier this month.
Originally held to mark the province’s founding day, the cultural dance dates back to the Spanish era and takes inspiration from the practice of marginal fishermen in lighting their lamps as they go out to sea.
Endowed with a long coastline, Oriental Mindoro is blessed with lush fishing grounds teeming with aquatic resources, making fishing a major source of livelihood.
Coined from the words pandanggo or dance and dagitab or flicker of light, the stylized and graceful dance follows the traditional swayand-balance movement, with the shallow gyrating of the hips and side-swing of the hands.
The street dance parade, the highlight of the festiv
ity, was held at the provincial capital city of Calapan on May 16. Commencing at the Sto. Niño Cathedral, the dancers first paid homage to the patron saint at Angelus or the 6 p.m. prayer before they went around the city doing the popular lilting folk dance
pandanggo sa ilaw.
One of the country’s few evening street dances, Pandang Gitab has been representing Oriental Mindoro in the annual Aliwan Fiesta street dance competition since 2011 and has consistently figured as one of the finalists.
Other activities of the festival included the Mutya ng Pandang Gitab which crowned the province’s am- of tourism and goodwill.
According to Gov. Alfonso Umali Jr., the annual festivities bring to the fore the province’s rich culture and history, which date back to the precolonial era.
Oriental Mindoro is home to the ruins of Spanish colonial churches in Bancuro, Naujan town, archaeologione cal sites of precolonial civilizations and tribal villages of the Mangyans, one of the country’s notable indigenous people groups.
It also takes pride in its secluded coves of fine sand beaches, the placid lakes of Naujan and Caluangan, enchanting waterfalls, scenic rivers and idyllic islands.
In terms of natural heritage, it boasts of the mighty Mt. Halcon, home to of the country’s havens of biodiversity which is the habitat of the national animal tamaraw ( Bubalus minwhich
dorensis).
The province is also home to the famed resort town of Puerto Galera, a UNESCO man and biosphere sanctuary which was named in 2005 by a Paris-based club as one of the most beautiful bays in the world.
Umali said that the festival also highlighted the strides made by the local government in governance, tourism and cultural advancement, agricultural modernization, investment and economic development over the decades.
Composed of 14 towns and one city, Oriental Mindoro serves as the backbone of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway which connects Luzon to the Visayas.