The Queen Province of the North Celebrates the Bambanti Festival 2024
“Ettam ngana… ta Bambanti! Ettam ngana… ta Isabela!” goes the zestful jingle that thundered for days at the expansive complex of Isabela Provincial Capitol, the center for the activities of the annual Bambanti Festival.
This year’s theme, an Ibanag phrase, “Ettam Ngana ta Isabela!” (Let’s Go to Isabela!), beckons visitors to experience the rich culture, arts and heritage, as well as the diverse agricultural bounties and tourism jewels that Isabela has to offer. The week-long celebration immersed both Isabeleños and guests through music festivals, fun fitness activities, different competitions and cultural exhibits that showcased the treasures of the so-called “Queen Province of the North.”
The Land of Bambanti
In the capital Ilagan, there’s the Mammangi Festival that fetes the abundance of corn and the city’s corn farmers. The same goes for the towns of San Mateo for its balatong or munggo (mung beans), San Pablo for its baka (cattle), Benito Soliven for its sabunganay (banana blossom) and Aurora for its calamansi harvest. Each of Isabela’s three cities and 34 municipalities holds its own yearly agricultural and/or cultural celebration, but the Bambanti Festival is the grandest, celebrated by the entire province. Isabela’s “mother of all festivals” is a tribute to the scarecrow, or what they call “bambanti” in Ilocano.
“Why the scarecrow?,” asked veteran writer Amadis Ma. Guerrero during the press conference held in Cauayan City, noting that “scaring off” or the scarecrow itself carries a negative connotation.
The human-like figures, usually made out of hay, straw and wooden poles, and dressed in layers of colorful yet tattered hand-me-downs, are a common sight amidst the vast fertile fields of Isabela—the Philippines’ second largest province in terms of land area, whose economy relies largely on agriculture.
These scarecrows, strange-looking and often depicted in pop culture as horrifying objects, repel birds and other pests that prey upon crops, thus considered the farmers’ allies in ensuring a bountiful harvest. They are the watch guards or protectors of Isabela’s agricultural lands, the “sentinels of the fields” as the Isabela Tourism Office describes them in their newly-launched coffee table book.
Touted as the country’s corn and munggo capital and among its top producers of palay (rice), the scarecrows have become a symbol of Isabela’s economic presence as an agricultural and agri-industrial hub. The inanimate bambanti, drenched in sun and rain while guarding the crops, also signifies Isabeleño resiliency, resourcefulness and perseverance.
Bambanti Village, Giant Scarecrows
The day after we braved the grueling 10-hour drive to Isabela for the four-day festival coverage, we visited the Bambanti Village set up in front of the capitol building.
The village is a makeshift gated avenue, which comprised 30 contiguous agri-ecotourism booths—platforms that exhibited the history, culture, traditions, arts, agrarian and aquatic products, and the local delicacies of every participating city and municipality, which booth visitors could sample and buy as pasalubong.
The kiosks also featured each town’s festivals and flexed every recognition that the townsfolk had garnered from the past festivals and different LGU award-giving bodies. Beside each agri-booth stood the town’s Giant Bambanti.
During the festival, the beloved scarecrows turn into gigantic pieces of art. The booths and giant bambantis were conceptualized to display the towns’ distinct identities and were painstakingly built and decorated using organic, biodegradable materials native to each locality.
For instance, the coastal municipality of Maconacon had its booth and mermaid-shaped bambanti covered in different types of seashells. The neighboring Divilacan, which nestles between the Northern Sierra Madre and the Pacific Ocean, used barks of trees, white seashells and fine sands to present its lush forests and white sand beaches. Because of its Bato Art Festival, Luna town’s exhibits were copiously peppered with smooth pebbles.
Cabatuan mosaicked theirs with 1,000 empty pieces of bao ng niyog (coconut shell), coconut being the main ingredient of different kakanin (sticky rice) delicacies that the municipality is known for. San Pablo, for its great deal of cattle ranches, had their booth cow-shaped and their scarecrow depicting a cowboy.
In the end, Ilagan’s giant bambanti and Echague’s agri-ecotourism booth won in Category A. In Category B, both Cordon’s booth and bambanti emerged as the winners. For this and other festival contests, the cities and municipalities were categorized according to their economic status.
The Agri-ecotourism Exhibit and Sale run for the entire duration of the festival. Not only did it display what each town offers its guests, it also generated income and showcased the Isabeleño ingenuity.
Queen Isabela 2024
Later that day, the evening dazzled with the beauties of the 28 candidates for the Queen Isabela 2024.
Founded on May 1, 1856, Isabela province was named after Queen Isabella II of Spain, who decreed its creation by carving out territories from Cagayan and Nueva Vizcaya. The pageant’s title dropped the usual “Miss” to embody Isabela’s moniker and the origin of its name, according to Nilo Agustin, the festival’s creative director.
The Grand Coronation Night was held at the amphitheater-like Queen Isabela Park located in front of the capitol grounds. TV actors DJ Durano and Markki Stroem hosted the glamorous event alongside model and Miss Philippines Earth 2013 title holder, Angelee Delos Reyes.
The candidates sashayed in their swimwear following the town-inspired cultural costumes and evening dress creations of world-class couturier, Albert Andrada, who was also among the esteemed judges, before they proceeded to the much-awaited Q&A portion.
The stars shined upon Roxas, Echague, Sta. Maria, Ilagan and Cauayan, when their representatives made it to the Top 5. Miss Roxas, Grace Esther Due, and Miss Cauayan, Alexis Ann Ramos, were named the 1st and 2nd Runner-up, respectively.
Precious Faith Mirasol of Sta. Maria bagged the Queen Isabela Tourism title, while Jhudiel Eunisse Taguinod of Echague was given the Queen Isabela Culture and Arts. City of Ilagan’s Kristine Joy Guzman, whom I also had the chance to cover during the Mammangi Festival (Bb. Ilagan 2023) last August, took home this year’s Queen Isabela crown.
Makan ken Mainum, a cook-off
Makan ken Mainum, an Ilocano phrase meaning “food and beverage,” was Bambanti Festival’s version of MasterChef, sans the grumpy Gordon Ramsay.
Each competing town is represented by a group of budding culinarians ages 15-23, who, within the two-and-a-half-hour time limit, must prepare both the makan (food) and mainum (beverage) and present it to the judges. The dishes must be the group’s original creations—like a twist to an existing Ilocano or Ibanag fare—using locally sourced ingredients.
This annual cook-off aims to preserve Isabela’s culinary culture by harnessing the talents of the younger generation. Among those who judged the competition was JR Lamaton Royol, renowned Igorot chef and host of GMA Network’s cooking show, Farm to Table.
The Municipality of Dinapigue (1st place) and Santiago City (2nd place) dominated both the makan and the mainum segments. Other winners for mainum were Cordon, Tumauini and Echague, while for makan, Cordon and Tumauini once again, with Luna supplanting Echague.
Festival King and Queen
The battle of Festival Kings and Queens was a costume competition, where the local designers of the striking attires had to draw inspiration from their town’s very own festival. The intricately crafted costumes were displayed for two days at the Provincial Amphitheatre inside the capitol building, where the public can view them and learn more about the participating cities’ and municipalities’ cultural heritage.
The night following the cook-off event, the towns’ selected royal pairs were judged as they flaunted the seemingly unwieldy costumes on the grand stage of Queen Isabela Park.
For the festival costume category, the kings and queens of Jones (Category A) and Ramon (Category B) emerged victorious. Ramon municipality celebrates Tilapia Festival, while Jones’ festivities revolve around the pinilisa, a plum-colored rice variety.
Meanwhile, the Festival King and Queen crowns for Category A went to the lovely representatives of Echague, the town that honors the Yogad tribe (its early settlers) through their Mengal Festival, and to Quirino for Category B, which holds the Baraniw (lemongrass) Festival. The winning designers, Harold Dela Cruz and Herman Timbang, also hail from Echague.
The Festival King and Queen promotes both Isabela’s array of festivals and its people’s traditional craftsmanship.
Parade of Scarecrows
The festivities culminated in a street parade, dance face-off, musical show and a fireworks display at the Isabela Sports Complex, where the bleachers were filled with wild, cheering spectators from all over the province.
A total of 1,600 dance contingents from the 16 competing cities and municipalities—clad in vibrant koloretes (makeup) and scarecrow-inspired outfits with a hint of their town’s unique culture—marched and chanted with vigor to the sports complex before sundown.
The Street Dance Competition was a continuous three-minute dance routine from each group, gyrating to the non-stop, reverberating beat of the aforementioned festival jingle. The Festival Dance Showdown, on the other hand, was characterized by distinct costumes, music and choreographies that reflected each town’s history and culture and its townspeople’s stories of resilience.
Before the announcement of winners, “Ettam Ngana: Kamangha-mangha, Kahanga-hangang Isabela,” a touching musical show that lasted for about an hour, illuminated the festival’s grandest night. An ensemble led by actress and singer Julie Ann San Jose, together with the Whiplash Dance Company, former The Clash contenders Thea Astley, Jeremiah Tiangco, John Rex and Jessica Villarubin, and local artists Nic Galano and violinist Jake Gacang, gave the crowd goosebumps with a heartfelt performance of the musical’s commissioned song.
The municipality of Sta. Maria dominated both the Street Dance and Dance Showdown in Category B. Jones clinched the top spot for the Street Dance, while Alicia had it for the Dance Showdown in Category A. Echague overpowered the rest when they won the coveted Bambanti Festival 2024 Overall Champion award.
Grand Concert Party
As if the musical and pyrotechnics of the previous evening were not enough, the concluding night of the festival was a concert party that brought the audiences’ emotions up and down.
Rocking the night were back-to-back performances from OPM band The Juans, known for their “hugot” (sentimental) songs that the young generation could relate to, and Morissete Amon, known as Asia’s Phoenix for her seemingly effortless use of the whistle register in her songs.
The finale, Amon’s renditions of Whitney Houston’s dance-pop hits, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” and “How Will I Know,” left the dancing crowd (including this writer) begging for more.
The merrymakings of the Bambanti Festival 2024 were such a treat both for the visiting revelers and the dedicated Isabeleños, who are deemed steadfast as their celebrated scarecrows.
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Read: A Festival in the Philippines sets Guinness World Record for Dancing Scarecrows
