Residents were treated to a spectacle of lights at Poro Point on Saturday night, with about 250 boats and rafts lit in different colors floating near the shore, 600 sky lanterns meeting up with them and ending with a fireworks display.
The launching of Sillag Festival was meant to illuminate Poro Point as a tourist magnet for La Union, said officials of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), the event’s organizer.
“Sillag” means moonbeam and although the moon was in its first quarter, it was an auspicious start for the event meant to showcase the former site of the United States’ Wallace Air Station.
“The holding of the Sillag in Poro Point will play a major role in not only drawing tourists but promoting the Poro Point Freeport Zone, with its seaport and airport as the country’s investments and wealth generator in the north,” said BCDA Chair Felicito Payumo.
For the parade of boats, a fleet of decorated and illuminated vessels from the BCDA, city government, Philippine National Police, Philippine Coast Guard, the association of local resorts and restaurants, and other establishments were paraded from nearby Bauang town to Poro Point.
Some were shaped like fish, steamboats and the Poro Point lighthouse.
These were accompanied by more than 200 bancas (motorized outrigger boats) of local fishermen, lit by kerosene and battery lamps.
Sky lanterns in green, yellow, pink, orange, red and white were released. Although rain poured on Friday night, the sky was clear on Saturday with the wind going out to sea.
The lanterns were sold for P100 for individuals and P1,000 for institutional donors. Proceeds from the sale went to Gawad Kalinga, which would build houses in the fishing villages at Poro Point, BCDA officials said.