Unfortunately, the next showdown may not be for this year. There must be some good reasons why not this year.
Festival showcase like this would surely draw tourists to come in our town. It would help put our town in the map of tourist destinations. Job opportunities comes along in tourism. Opportunities that would help improve lives of Inopacnons and bring progress to Inopacan.
But several nights of dancing and night shows are lined up to enliven the fiesta celebration.- like the old time - beginning on May 11. May these nocturnal entertainment will not make people tired to go to church for early morning Ecclesiastical Mass.
Some of the festival activities this May 2011 include the following:
May 09 - Hiphop contest May 10 - ____________ May 11 - SK night May 12 - Mega Night Disco May 13 - Live band show May 14 - Coronation night for Miss Inopacan May 15 - Concelebrated Mass - Misa sa lungsod alas 10:00 sa buntag. Ayaw kalimot pagtambong sa pinakamahinungdanon nga bahin sa kasaulogan sa pangilin ning atong lungsod.
An early morning Ecclesiastical Mass held in the Inopacan Parish Church during the town fiesta.
May 16 - Liwas na! Daghan mag-picnic sa dagat. Kita-kita sa Badoy beach, Reclamation (Pasil), Baysahas, Da Art, Balintong beach, Villa Editha, Digyo island....bisan asa basta may dagat. Picnic by the seaside is the popular Inopacnon post festival habit. Mao ni gitawag og "panghugas sa salin sa pista" kay ang mga bawon salin-salin na man lang sa pista. Unya hugasan og tagay yuna hugasan ang imong "kuan" diha sa dagat. LOL!
This coming May 14 and 15 is on Saturday and Sunday.
What a chance...grab it! DALI KAMO!DUAW KAMO!
Click hereto find out who are those coming to town.
The 2008 and 2009 organizers of Inong Pak-an Festival failed to continue this year (2010) the festive showdown of commemorating the legendary origin of our town's name. Blamed it on the 2010 National and Local Election that culminated on May 10, or five days before the May 15 ecclesiastical town fiesta in honor to our patron saint, San Isidro Labrador. Everybody in town and in member barangays were too busy attending to the campaign sorties of their candidates.
I suppose, the newly elected council of Inopacan should establish the creation of a cultural and social committee to preserve and promote our cultural treasure and historical identity.
I even suggest the installation of a municipal museum and public library where all the literary works, relics, memorabilia of olden times and history about Inopacan and about us Inopacnons would be stored and preserved for perpetuity.
Or else, rust, termites, and loss of memory and references will vanish these treasures to oblivion.
(Click the image and find your place in Poblacion, Inopacan, Leyte.)
Inopacan – [Leyte] (demonym: Inopacnon) - A coastal town in the western part of Leyte province. The original site of Inopacan was in Binitinan (now Brgy. Guadalupe). Due to the frequent invasion and pillage of Moro pirates and the wrath of monsoon storms, making it unsafe to moor their galleons in the area, they transferred the village to the present location of this town, which was then called Kanamokan, meaning “place of mosquitoes” because of its pesky namok (mosquito).
The relocation was intended to spare early Spanish missionary priests and the native settlers from the attacks of Moro marauders. Besides, the present location is along the seaside and the mooring galleons were well guarded by the Cuatro Islas (four islets): Digyo, Mahaba, Apid, and Himokilan. A place is strategically a good place for hiding galleons from the wrath of habagat (south or southwest monsoon winds). Nearby the town proper is a place where the ships and fishing boats would take refuge during bad weather even to these days. The people called this place Tinago from the word “tago” meaning “hidden.” Thus, “tinago” means “the hidden place.”
Many of the documents that could be a good source for learning about the history of Inopacan were destroyed when the town hall as well as the parish church and its convent were leveled into rubble as the Japanese warplanes bombed these buildings during World War II. But based on the account of Inopacnon elders and records from neighboring towns, Inopacan was once a barangay of Hindang. Fernando Polistico (a Boholano) was the first appointed Capitan del Barrio, and was succeeded by Francisco Espinosa, and lastly by Agustin Kudera before Inopacan became a town on December 06, 1892.
The name Inopacan came from the legendary person known as “Inong pak-an,” which means “Inong who has wings” or “winged Inong.” Inong was a mythical man who, according to legend, was a person who could run very fast and jump up high over the trees and could hop from one place to another, such as from hill to hill. Hence, he was thought to have wings. His story happened before the Spanish came to this place. His supernatural abilities are similar to olden esoteric arts called kamal or ilmu, which were practiced by the early Muslim aristocrats in southern Mindanao. Kamal was taught by special masters and was effectively limited to members of the aristocracy. Inong could be a rajah or a sultan under the aristocratic lineage of either the endatuan or dumatus. This fit his description of being a leader of a pack of local warriors. He and his men protected the local villagers by driving away Moro bandits and the much-dreaded giant serpentine snake that once lived in a cave.
The cave has an entrance opening at the tip of a cape now called “bay sa has” (literally means “the house of a snake”, a seaside limestone cave where the giant reptile used to live). The huge serpentine snake was dreaded by the local villagers because it attacked their carabaos, cows, goats, pigs, dogs, and other animals, especially when the snake was hungry. Even the fishermen who were on their sakayan (outrigger rowing canoe), or baroto (small frail rowing boat), or the Muslim pirates who were on their pankos (sailboat) were not spared from the attack if they happened to pass by near the mouth of the cave.
Until one night, under the light of a bright full moon, the snake was seen playing the trabungko, a brightly illuminating crystal ball. The snake tossed it up in the air while skimming the surface of the sea between the islets of Cuatro Islas. It is believed that the ball was a mystical amulet and had birtud (magical power), and Inong was among those who saw the snake playing the trabungko.
The entrance of Bay-sa-has (house of snake) at present. (Photo credits to Ms. Eldeross Kirong)
The long search for the trabungko could be one of the reasons why Inong came to this place. Because of his desire to acquire the mystical ball, Inong chased the giant snake by hopping from the shore to his boat, then to the islet, and to another boat as if he had some sort of flying skill. Using his sword and shield and with the show of his supernatural strength, Inong fought the ferocious giant serpentine snake. After a long fight, Inong disappeared along with the giant snake. Because of their subsequent disappearance, everybody thought that Inong succeeded in killing the giant snake. Few had told that Inong got the trabungko and lived a quiet life in a cave in the jungle on top of Mt. Sacrepante overlooking the nearby plains. Others accounted that they saw him on the hilly karst of Bontoc in Brgy. Bulacan in the northeastern part of Hindang where many caves can be found; or most probably, he went back to his origin in Mindanao bringing home the treasured trabungko.
The Inong Pak-an Festival
There were some accounts of succeeding great tambalans (a.k.a. albularyo, referred to as the local shaman or quack doctors) before World War II who happened to have an encounter with Inong in the mountains and network of caves in Inopacan that are connected with the caves in Bulacan, Hindang, and the Cuatro Islas. These tambalans said that they had to pass a test, such as solving a puzzle, completing a tahas (task), or facing a fight of strength with Inong, for him to receive more magical power from him. This kind of ordeal is typical of that of a special master who taught or passed the knowledge of kamal to others. Years later, back to the cave in the cape, there were few big snakes left in the Baysahas long after the giant serpentine one was gone. Mostly were sawa (boa constrictors). The snakes were quite big but no longer giant, but still, these creatures were feared by the local villagers. According to old folks, it was during World War II that the big snakes were gone because the Japanese occupation armies annihilated them by trolling in the sea carcasses and other big chunks of meat stuffed with bombs. The snakes took the bait and were killed by the explosives. Nowadays, no more sightings of big snakes in Baysahas are reported. The cave still exists now, though its opening is already narrow and partly covered with stones and sand.
The Inopacan bridge that crosses over the subang daku and subang gamay.
A proud Inopacnon whose journey in life started in Inopacan, Leyte, when electricity had not yet reached his small, sleepy hometown on the w...
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