By Anthony Giron
IMUS, Cavite - The Wagayway Festival (Flag Wave Festivities) for the 121st Flag Day anniversary celebration on May 28 has started with simple activities in this historical capital city.
The Flag Day celebration is a prelude to the “Araw ng Kalayaan” or Independence Day activities and festivities at Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit, a neighboring municipality, on June 12. The twin celebrations are two of the most celebrated events in Cavite province every year.
The Information and Tourism Office said that the nine-day Wagayway Festival had started with the launch of "Run for the Flag Day V," the run event at The District Mall Imus and Photo Challenge dubbed "Imus Historia," a contest of the best "photo shoots" of city heritage sites, and "Food-ibig sa Imus (Food Love in Imus or food fair) at the City Plaza on May 5 and 6, respectively.
The highlights of the festival are the Thanksgiving Mass at the historic Imus Cathedral, the seat of Cavite Diocese, on the 20th, the "The Uprising," Wagayway Music Festival at the Imus Polytechnic Institute Open grounds on Aguinaldo Highway; and the National Flag Day main event on the 28th at the Dambana ng Pambansang Watawat (Shrine of the Philippine Flag) at the Heritage Park in Miguel Santo, Barangay Alapan II-B.
Information and Tourism Officer Jay Saquilayan said that the other set events are the Mega Job Fair at the CityMall-Anabu, the Coop Trade Fair on the 29th and 30th and the "Sorpresaya Truck," (Surprise Program) at the Imus Polytechnic ground.
Gracing the event on the 28th are Mayor Emmanuel Leonard Maliksi, Third District (Imus) Rep. Alex L. Advincula, Vice Mayor Arnel M. Cantimbuhan, and the city councilors.
The program includes the wreath-laying at the “Dambana ng Inang Laya” (Shrine of Mother Freedom) and the ensuing singing of the national anthem and raising of the giant flag at the site's 90-foot pole.
Imus is the only city in the country which traditionally celebrates Flag Day with pomp on a day-long program. Last year, about 3,000 flags were displayed at the city plaza and elsewhere.
Imus is known as the “Flag Capital of the Philippines” as it was in the “Battle of Alapan” on May 28, 1898, that the new Philippine flag was first waved by the Filipino revolutionaries under General Emilio F. Aguinaldo.
The “Battle of Alapan” was the first uprising victory of Aguinaldo and the revolutionaries against the Spanish force after the return of the General to the Philippines on May 18, 1898, from exile in Hong Kong.
The flag, designed by Aguinaldo himself, was sewn in Hong Kong by Marcela Agoncillo, her daughter Lorenza, and Delfina Herbosa de Natividad, a niece of Dr. Jose P. Rizal.
Cavite is known as the country’s “Historical Capital” as it was the center of revolutionary events and the birthplace of the Philippines’ independence from Spanish colonial rule that spanned over 300 years.