Regada 2016

Six years ago I wrote a blog entry here regarding my growing dismay on Regada. This was my closing paragraph of that blog entry...

Cavite City has a very rich history and hoping someday we will have a festival wherein we can showcase our history, culture, beauty and talents of what we really have and not just noisy and rowdy individuals especially teenagers flirting and partying all day until they get drunk, wild and lost.

That time my issue is the drunkenness and rowdiness of the men and teenagers under the influence of alcohol and how the festival became too commercialized that it lost the real essence of it. Today I am writing an entry again since Regada turned from worse to worst.

The past few years sexy girls became the main attraction and what is more worst this year a well known "porno star" as highlight. Proudly beside are photos circulated online with the smiling city male government officials/organizers who look so proud like they've won bigtime in lottery with the popular porno star in their trophy payabangang selfies. Sus Maria Ginoo!

And what could have added more insult to the injury there was no basnig and fluvial parade held for the very first time.

In the video above we can see St. John The Baptist was just merely splashed with water in the sea. I'm not sure if the rumors are true that there was a mishap in the permit that's why it was not allowed for the traditional fluvial parade. Additionally, the karakol took an alternative route this time, deviating from its usual path and bypassing the main road, much to the disappointment of numerous Caviteños who eagerly awaited its procession.

Promoting an event that seems to have lost its true meaning and lacks understanding from those currently organizing the festival becomes a challenging task. The turn of events during Regada 2016 was a complete disappointment. Hoping next year bumawi na sana ang organizers at umayos naman. Problem really is when ang pagmamahal ng officials ay para sa sariling papeymus at showbiz na kapakanan rather than sa siyudad sampu ng kultura at tradisyon nito na dapat na nililinang at patuloy na sinusulong. Bring the solemnity St. John The Baptist which should have been the main highlight of the festival.  

Video c/o :  Jan Joseph Gonzales Bernal FB