Pampanga town revives all-men cross-dressing pageant

‘FESTIVAL QUEEN’ Security guard Fernando Canlas emerges as the “festival queen” of the Aguman Sanduk, held on New Year’s Day in Minalin town of Pampanga, which crowns the funniest face among its participants who poke fun at their manhood to bring joy to spectators. —TONETTE T. OREJAS

MINALIN, PAMPANGA—Hundreds of men here poked fun at their manhood on Sunday, New Year’s Day, by wearing dresses, makeup and jewelry of the women in their families to greet the first day of 2023 with joy in an almost century-old revelry halted only for two years by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The resumption of the Aguman Sanduk, or the Fellowship of the Ladle, enabled Jericho Maniego, 20, to continue what he called “mantun pikatulan (finding joy)” while greeting the new year.

His father, Romy, and uncle, Efren, both natives of Barangay Sto. Domingo, learned the tradition from their male elders.

Maniego started joining the street parade when he was 15 years old, and each time, he would wear his grandmother’s house dress, which bared his tattooed chest.

“I’m happy the tradition is back. We are happy being together like this. We need to stay positive,” Maniego said before posing for photographs with his friends.

‘Best muse’

ONE-OF-A-KIND PARADE After a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, menfolk in Minalin, Pampanga, resume an almost century-old festival that welcomes the New Year with joy and humor. —TONETTE T. OREJAS

The burly Fernando Canlas of Barangay Sta. Catalina went all out, wearing a gown and a tiara befitting a “festival queen.” The 51-year-old security guard emerged as the event’s “best muse.”

For the festival’s comeback, all 15 barangays joined, fielding their own floats, street performances and muses along the theme of rising from the pandemic.

Professional basketball player Jerico Isidro came out in a wig and gown to “show solidarity” to his hometown, which is known for producing eggs, tilapia and, recently, amateur basketball players.

They sort of upstaged the real beauty queen from the town, Leeana Laughlin, the first runner-up in Mutya ning Kapampangan.

The hiatus in 2021 and 2022 happened after Gov. Dennis Pineda suspended the one-of-a-kind Philippine parade by way of Executive Order No. 32, which banned public gatherings and prescribed safety protocols against coronavirus infection.

The local government subsidized the festival to “develop and strengthen cooperation among the citizens while rebuilding from the pandemic,” Mayor Philip Naguit remarked during the program.

“I hope the happiness the Aguman Sanduk stirred in us will inspire us to keep on realizing our aspirations in life,” Naguit said in Kapampangan.

Barangay Sta. Rita emerged as champion, while Sta. Maria and Sta. Catalina landed first and second runners-up, respectively.

Humor

About 10 men from the town proper started the Aguman Sanduk in 1931 just as a pikatulan (out of joy or humor). They wore their women’s clothes, mimicking or amusing the female population in Minalin by parading around Sta. Monica Church, brandishing the ladle made out of coconut shell and sharing bowls of arroz caldo (chicken porridge) to cap the festivity.

That small parade was organized into a festival in 1932, making merrymaking fun twice over, according to Romel

Tubig Jr., Minalin’s tourism officer. Tubig said the Japanese Imperial Army tried to suppress it, but the menfolk proceeded with it during the World War II years. The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991, which inundated the town with lahar, toned down the festival, he said.

A number of men who carved careers outside of Minalin had joined the Aguman Sanduk out of tradition, like lawyer Ricardo Sagmit, the lone surviving delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention who was crowned the festival’s queen in 1975. INQ

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