Tacloban execs block festival parade

TACLOBAN CITY—Tension ran high yesterday morning when the grand parade of the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals, one of the best festivals in the country, was not allowed to pass some of the city’s main streets.

The city government blocked the parade route with four dump trucks and policemen along Real Street, which connects to the major streets and to the Leyte Sports Development Center (LSDC).

Some participants, however, tried to break through the obstruction.

After the two-hour standoff, parade organizers decided to back off at about 10 a.m. The participants went back to its take off—and supposed end—point at the LSDC grandstand.

Fifteen colorfully attired Kasadyaan contingents, representing festivals of the towns in Leyte, and 10 “pintados” (tribes) denoting the early settlers, were to compete in the ritual dancing contest on Monday afternoon.

Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez said he prevented the organizers from using Real because it was not part of the original route stated in the permit.

“What they did was to sow anarchy here in Tacloban … by using streets not (specified) under their parade route. I will not allow them to paralyze the entire city,” Romualdez said.

About 8 a.m. Monday, the organizers found Real Street blocked by city traffic enforcers, policemen and steel barricades.

The organizers were told to detour though Burgos Street and proceed to the grandstand, the same route that they took last year. But they refused.

A police crowd dispersal unit tried to maintain peace and order. Around 800 policemen were earlier deployed to the city to avert any untoward incident.

The Pintados Festival was organized 25 years ago, and the Kasadyaan, 16 years ago. The two events are jointly held every June 27.

For several years, the city government and the festival organizers, composed mostly of businessmen allied with the provincial government, have been at odds over the parade. The event is one of the highlights of the feast of the Sto. Niño, patron saint of Tacloban and the province of Leyte.

The organizers are also known to be political rivals of Romualdez. One of them is Palo Mayor Remedios Petilla, mother of Gov. Jericho Petilla and a former governor herself.

Romualdez said the festival contingents were from various parts of the province and a few were from the city’s barangays. The organizers, he added, were not even from Tacloban.

Tacloban, a highly urbanized city, has its own festival, Sangyaw, on June 29. It is not under the administrative control of the provincial government.