SANTA CRUZ, Marinduque—Local social network users are frowning at a neighboring province’s version of Moriones Festival, fearing it might eclipse the original festivities being held on the island.
In a tradition practiced yearly for over a century in Marinduque, men and women called Morions parade around the six towns of the province during Holy Week, dressed in colorful costumes—a parody of the Roman soldiers during the time of Christ.
For the Morions, the act of penance, thanksgiving or self-cleansing means enduring the hot costumes, hunger and thirst during the long walk around town. After a long, humid day, they join the early evening religious procession on Holy Wednesday and Good Friday.
In Pola, Pinamalayan and several other towns in Oriental Mindoro, four hours away by boat from Gasan town in Marinduque, programs showcasing a similar Lenten show are being aggressively promoted every Holy Week.
In 2005, then Pinamalayan Mayor Aristeo Baldos called the festival “Centuriones” to make it distinct from the Moriones.
Gerry Jamilla, the Marinduque tourism officer, said Pola and Pinamalayan had been holding contests offering big prizes for the Morion participants. “The big amount of monetary prizes had lured numerous Morions from Marinduque to join the contests there,” he said.
The two municipalities in Mindoro have included the festival in their tourism come-ons and even allocated funds as prizes for the costume competition. Local officials have said that making the tradition a “little commercialized” would attract more visitors and provide incentives to participants for their sacrifices.
Moriones identity
Pipo Nepomuceno, administrator of the Facebook group Marinduqueño Mandin, which has close to 4,500 members, said Mindoro’s version “put in jeopardy” the identity of Marinduque as the tradition’s origin.
“Imagine a tourism advertisement of Mindoro with our Morions as its highlight? [Or worse] an ad of the Department of Tourism with Mindoro likewise having Morions or centurions,” he said.
Kasa Marin wrote that Mindoro should refrain from copying the Moriones and should establish a different event that would promote Mindoro’s own identity.
Some members of the social network group, however, believe Marinduqueños should not be threatened by the Centuriones of Mindoro. “The vow (of the Morions) can be done anywhere—the originality should not be a debate here,” said Russel David.
What should be done is to improve the political and tourism problems in Marinduque, he said. “We are a small province, and yet we are divided in some issues. People get confused.”
Danilo Mandia, a Marinduqueño who works as a dubbing director at ABS-CBN, said stakeholders should go back to the roots of the tradition to preserve and promote the Moriones.
“Moriones is street theater. It is now a lost art. We should bring back the essence of Moriones before when the masked penitents ruled our streets. It was the reason tourists came here in droves then,” he said.