Frog feast hopes flood-soaked Pampanga could spring to life

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—This city is pushing through with a festival amid devastating floods in other parts of Pampanga in the hope of uplifting the spirit of flood-soaked Kapampangans and recognizing the relevance of the festival’s star, frogs, to the environment.

Food, as in many a festivals, will be abundant but this time, the menu won’t include the star of Pyestang Tugak (Frog Festival), which is in its ninth year.

Started by former Mayor Reynaldo Aquino in 2003, the festival was expanded by now Mayor Oscar Rodriguez to rally the private sector to join the city government’s environment protection campaign. Frogs are said to be a good barometer of a healthy environment.

Then, too, Rodriguez said frogs are not adversely affected by floods.

“On the contrary, they multiply better since [floods] are conducive to their habitat,” he said.

Except for a strip of the Jose Abad Santos Avenue, most parts of the city were spared from floods, thanks in part to the rehabilitation of the San Fernando River.

Rodriguez, however, removed one of the festival’s major attractions–-a cooking competition that features various ways of cooking frog meat. The meat is described to be softer and more delicious than chicken. “Let’s give the frogs time to propagate,” he said.

A wholesale ban on frog catching could not be enforced, though, because farmers saw frogs as cheap sources of protein, Rodriguez said.

Ferdinand Caylao, city administrator, would present his frog collection. Caylao has more than 3,000 pieces of anything that is about frogs—caps, cups, clocks, fans, stuffed toys, figurines, umbrellas, watches and curtains, among other things.

In the city’s rural areas, children are still taught to sing verses hailing frogs as farmers’ friends. The frogs’ chorus of croaking is taken as nature’s sign of the coming of rains.

Contests for frog jumping and racing are set on Oct. 12 on Abad Santos Street. Frog catching is set on the same day at the St. Jude Village’s oval.

A chorale competition on songs about frogs will be held on Oct. 14 at the Robinsons Starmills.

Councilor Noel Tulabut, chair of the council’s tourism committee, said the festival, while just nine years old, reflects a facet of Kapampangan culture and tradition.

This Pampanga capital is also home to the Ligligan Parul (Giant Lantern Festival), a century-old tradition where eight to 10 lanterns as tall as two-story houses vie for prizes. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon