After being paraded through the streets of Angono, Rizal, the town’s “higantes” will soon be seen in Davao City festivals.
This is after Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio expressed her willingness to bring to Davao the giant papier-mâché puppets that amazed her during the Higantes Festival held in the town on Sunday, Nov. 20.
The former Davao City mayor said wants the “higantes” to take part in Araw ng Dabaw festival in March and Kadayawan in August
“I am so amused with what I just saw. In fact, I’m asking Mayor Jerimae Calderon if she could lend us their higantes for our festivities in Davao,” Duterte said. Calderon then obliged to the vice president's request.
Duterte was the guest of honor at the festival where she underscored the need to propel the country's tourism so that the economy could take a shorter route towards recovery from the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the global recession caused by several societal issues.
She then lauded Angono's local government for their efforts in preserving the town's culture and heritage.
“The fact that the Angono local government unit has been consistent in its effort to preserve culture is in itself noble work of ensuring that we do not forget the historical significance of this festival,” Duterte said.
“Through these colorful and gigantic papier-mâché puppets, our forebears expressed their deep-seated yearning for freedom that planted the seeds and the call for change,” she added.
During the festival, hundreds of giant papier-mâché puppets are paraded, representing the common people's mockery of the bad land owners of the past during Spanish colonial rule. It has since then evolved into also celebrating the feast of Pope St. Clement I every Nov. 22 and 23.
Possibly the earliest form of puppetry in the country, higante-making has been supported by the government to keep the festival and its related traditions alive.
A three-meter-tall puppet usually takes about an entire month to make, where the most difficult part to create is the head, which is made of paper strips. The body of a higante puppet is made of bamboo or rattan strips to make it easier for a puppeteer to carry it during the long procession, which normally takes hours to finish.
Being the secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd), Duterte also stressed how art benefits the youth's growth and development, including its impact on early childhood education and the development of their creativity, skills and talents, among others.
The Angono LGU was also acknowledged by Duterte for its numerous awards which includes being the top municipality in terms of infrastructure during the recently concluded 10th Cities, Municipalities Competitive Summit, ranking as the sixth most competitive municipality, and being awarded the Seal of Good Local Governance from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) from 2015 to 2020.
“From a third-class municipality in 1998, Angono is now a first-class municipality. At dahil iyon sa pagkakaisa ninyong lahat (And that is because of your unity),” Duterte said.
“Even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, your town’s economy grew with gross sales of registered firms reaching over 14 billion,” she added.