Paskwa Sang Maragtas

 NCCA supports Capiz's Xmas Village showcase

By Earl D.C. Bracamonte 

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) supports the province of Capiz's arts & heritage showcase for the last quarter of 2024. Foremost is the celebration of its Sinadya Festival, a weeklong traditional event that culminates with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. 

Corollary to the festival is the province-wide celebration of the 'Paskwa Sang Maragtas,' a provincial ordinance highlighting Capiz's creative industries; celebrating local artists and artisans, as well as its community effort.

The 'Paskwa Sang Maragtas' is a provincial legislation, pushed by Gov. Fredenil H. Castro, that converts the entire province of Capiz into a Christmas Village. It's a one-of-a-kind celebration in the whole country. The highways bounding Capiz to other provinces of Western Visayas are lined with brightly lit parols; echoing the lights display in its heritage zones that include the provincial capitol with its century-old bridge.

The 17 municipalities and one component city are one in this endeavor. To color code their parols, some municipalities opted for the immaculate color of white, another went for red, one went for green, others chose to be multi-colored; while the city of Roxas went for pink and rose-colored lantern.

Drumbeating the ordinance was the Dec 3rd event wherein 45,000 parols along the provincial thoroughfares were all lighted simultaneously.

  Coinciding with the aforementioned events was the Values Month culminating activity through the Balay Pinoy school caravan at the Aglalana Integrated School (AIS) in the municipality of Dumarao.

"There were several considerations why AIS was chosen as a venue. First, because of the learning of the twenty core values through its storytelling project that began at the height of the global pandemic. Second, a large number of its learners come from the IP community. And, lastly, value formation is part of its tour itinerary - which is also used in our tourism and cultural programs," shared provincial tourism officer Alphonsus Dalisay Tesoro, in his keynote speech.

"Arts and culture is the backbone of progressive communities," intimated Comm. Arvin Manuel Villalon, chairman of the NCCA's sub-committee on the Arts.

Capiz is the first, of all Philippine provinces, to have completed its cultural mapping in 2017, as mandated by the expanded Heritage Law.