Lanao del Norte town marks 72nd anniversary without revelry

EMPTY. Not a single person visited Kauswagan town’s kilometer-long boardwalk. Usually, it is the site for early morning walks and jogs, and during the town anniversary, it is filled with revelers who witness the local festival that celebrates the bounty of the sea. (Photo by  RICHEL V. UMEL / Inquirer Mindanao)

KAUSWAGAN, Lanao del Norte, Philippines — This town marked its 70th founding anniversary on Saturday, which was also the feast of its patron, St. Vincent Ferrer, without any revelry.

The churches were closed, in keeping with the order against mass gatherings, providing an eerie reminder of how the threat of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had redrawn life in the town for more than a month now.

The observance of the feast was confined within families as the community quarantine made it hard for visitors to celebrate with them.

The recent town anniversary could have been the occasion for showcasing the progress it had made, especially in the last decade, after being ravaged by a succession of wars.

Kauswagan was where President Joseph Estrada declared the all-out war against the Moro rebels in 2000, which brought the country’s military into a three-month conventional war that eventually led to the fall of Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao, the main lair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The 2000 war, and those in 2003 and 2008, pulled the town into a rut of underdevelopment.

Today, the town is a model for organic food production and has become known for its successful initiative of turning former rebels into farmer-entrepreneurs through the local government’s program “From Arms to Farms.”

The town has also made strides in grassroots interfaith peacebuilding, harnessing the various faith-based institutions towards rebuilding relations among local residents that had been torn by decades of conflict.

As a precaution against COVID-19, the local government canceled its lined up activities — such as the Hugyaw sa Kadagatan Festival, which celebrates the bounty of the sea; street dancing; an agri-aqua fair; and a triathlon.

CLOSED. The local Catholic church has been closed since last month, as a precaution against COVID-19, and even during the feast of its patron saint on April 25. (Photo by  RICHEL V. UMEL / Inquirer Mindanao)

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