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Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez charmed — or maybe I should say outsmarted — the local media last week when, at the presscon following the initial meeting for what will tantamount to be the largest Visayas-wide culture and arts festival early next year. She was asked if this was nothing more than a political vehicle to propel Gov. Gwen Garcia to a national position in 2010. Her answer was an unexpected “Why not?” quickly followed by “I would be happy if this would evolve into a political movement that would eventually make Governor Garcia the Prime Minister of the Federal State of the Visayas.” This left the media stunned, unable to react while Governor Garcia was left shaking her head in bemused denial.
I bet the one who asked the question never expected such bluntness from the governor of Antique who was in Cebu that day as chair of the Regional Development Council (RDC) of Western Visayas. The occasion was a meeting of minds of all three RDC heads that cover the entire Visayas for the holding in Cebu next February of, as earlier mentioned, the largest festival of culture and the arts of the peoples of the Visayas. (RDC Eastern Visayas chair and Calbayog City Mayor Leo Sarmiento was represented by his cultural affairs consultant and by Leyte Vice Gov. Mimyet Bagulaya.)
It took only a few minutes to reach a consensus to name the event “One Visayas” with the subtitle “One People, One Destiny,” an apparent affirmation and adaptation of the success of the just concluded “One Cebu” exhibition of both private and public sector entrepreneurship held to mark the 339th founding of Cebu province and held at the Cebu International Convention Center.
It was, of course, appropriate that not one of those from Cebu who were in the meeting (Board Member Agnes Magpale, Vince Escario and consultants Ian Fresnido, Sam Costanilla and myself) had suggested the title, avoiding any possible repercussions later from those who might see nothing but ill-will regarding the allusions to One Cebu. Indeed, it was Mrs. Lyn Gamboa of Balay Negrense, who actually presented the proposal for the upcoming event, an adoption of a quite similar festival, albeit not Visayas-wide, that she chaired last year in Bacolod.
All told, the event will be held toward the tail-end of February 2009, the National Arts Month, and will showcase the best of the Visayas in terms of theater, dance, film and video, music, painting, sculpture, literature, photography, culinary arts and architecture. A subsequent meeting has already resulted in the creation of a Cebu host secretariat to be chaired by the ever-active Ma’am Agnes Magpale, to be assisted by the different experts in Cebu of the aforementioned artistic fields.
There will be fairs, lectures, exhibitions, street dancing and performances during the event which is being mulled to last the best of right to nine days. Governors from all the Visayas provinces are expected to showcase the best of their province’s arts and culture affirming the oneness of the people of the Visayas. After all, despite diverse languages and the seas that separate them, the peoples of the Visayas share so much in common in terms of their history and culture. One Visayas is an event that should not be missed: eight days of showing the best of these islands that make up the center of the Philippines.
