BULUAN, Maguindanao, Philippines – Thousands of colorfully dressed people would converge here Friday to launch the 1st Sagayan Festival, showcasing Maguindanao’s rich cultural traditions and other ecotourism potentials long dwarfed by natural and man-made disasters, including the infamous massacre of 58 persons in 2009.

Organizers have lined up various festivities for five straight days starting Friday with a parade of residents from the 36 towns of Maguindanao clad in colorful woven dresses representing their ethnicities, followed by a grand “pagana” (offering of local cuisines and delicacies) to participants and visitors, festival coordinator Raquel Magalona said.

Magalona said the festival, which pursues the observance of the current National Artists Month, will wind up on February 14, coinciding with Valentine’s Day, and birthday of the late Ginalyn Mangudadatu, wife of the incumbent provincial governor, who had been organizing festivals to help transform Maguindanao until her fateful death in the November 23, 2009, massacre.

At a press conference here, Mangudadatu said that while his province struggles to reel off from the vestiges of adversities, his people ought to have a moment of rejoice.

“We should show to the world that we also deserve time to rejoice in a fashion where we can highlight our rich culture and traditions, promote our socio-economic potentials, and at the same time, foster peace and reconciliation among ourselves,” Mangudadatu said in Pilipino.

Maguindanao, which literally means “the flooded plain,” is still reeling from the havocs of floods spawned by recent heavy downpours, the 2008 fierce skirmishes between Moro rebels and government soldiers, and the massacre of 58 people including the governor’s wife and several relatives in November 23, 2009.

Asked if he is willing to receive his political enemies during the five-day festivities, Mangudadatu said: “We will welcome with our best mode of hospitality. There is no substitute to peace and harmony.”

To ensure the continuity of the Sagayan Festival in succeeding provincial political leaderships, he said the Sangguniang Panlalawigan had already drafted an ordinance institutionalizing the annual event, and would endorse the edict to the regional legislature of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for its possible enactment of a corresponding law.

At the press conference, Maguindanao Police Director Marcelo Pintac said his office has declared a red alert status effective February 7, in support of security measures that have been adopted for the conduct of the 1st Sagayan Festival to ensure the safety of thousands of revelers and visitors.

For his part, Army Colonel Ed Pangilinan, representing 6th Infantry Division chief Major General Rey Ardo, said soldiers will also be deployed as back-up troops to police contingents securing the entire duration of the five-day event.

“The military is fully supportive of the festival because we believe that Maguindanao is a good place to live and invest in,” Pangilinan said.

Pintac and Pangilinan said the combined security forces would be deployed in “full alert yet amiable” mode in conformity with the festive nature of the event by requiring VIPs to limit their bodyguards to just two with short firearms.

The governor said the festival would not entail stiff troop deployment because most corners and strategic places here have long been installed with closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

As this developed, Magalona said the parade will precede a “pagana” for both reveling residents and guests, serving various cuisines of local master chefs for tilapia, a kind of fish abounding Lake Buluan.

Magalona said the five-day festivities will also feature street dancing contest among 15 teams groups from various towns of Maguindanao, a carabao race, a choral contest organized by the two schools divisions in the province, and a kulintang competition by elderly resident-folks.

Apart from the cultural presentations, some concerned government agencies will conduct free dental and medical services, a jobs fair, technical demonstration of T-shirt printing, palm oil and rubber tree farming illustrations, and other ecotourism activities, she said.

Throughout the festivities, Sagayan dances will be interpolated with scheduled activities being the leading title of event, which for the maiden episode has been designed with the theme “Blending the Rich Cultures and Traditions of Maguindanaons en route to Peace and Prosperity.”

Sagayan, which originates from the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao, is a dance depicting Moro warriors in their pre-battle preparation of their two-bladed swords, shields, and other fighting gears, including beads of brass-producing sounds usually distracting enemies.

The Sagayan Festival is a province-wide version of the Tangonggo annual festivity initiated here by the late wife of the governor during his stint as town mayor here for three terms (2001-2010) before his election as governor in the last polls.

The birth date of Ginalyn is February 14, which coincides with the festival’s culmination day and Valentine’s Day, Magalona said.

Mangudadatu said his administration pushed the launching of the festival to propel Maguindanao at pace with its offspring-provinces of North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Sarangani that were carved of this province under the then Empire Cotabato Province.

The four derivative provinces have long been holding annual festivals but Maguindanao is yet to start its own this Friday, Mangudadatu said.