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Bañamos 2012 Schedule of Activities

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by Ladylove May B. Baurile

Los Baños organized a month-long celebration of the Yuletide season and this year’s Bañamos Festival. Activities lined up for Paskuhan sa Bagong Los Baños are as follows:

  • Marian Convention (Dec. 6)
  • Dia Agua Santa: Elejer and Fluvial Float (Dec. 7 )
  • Musikohan and Fiesta ng Bayan (Dec. 8)
  • Himigsikan (Dec. 9)
  • Miss Los Baños Talent Night (Dec. 12)
  • Miss Los Baños Swimsuit Competition and Make your Move Dance Competition (Dec. 13)
  • Los Baños Idol (Dec. 14)
  • Miss Los Baños Coronation Night (Dec. 15)
  • Grand Revelry (Dec. 16)
  • Kasalang Bayan (Dec 17)
  • Barangay Trade Fair (Dec. 7-16)

“Kahit na lately merong mga calamities, kahit na maraming nangyari sa Los Baños, atleast ma-feel ng mga tao na yung Christmas nandyan parin,” explains Municpal Tourism Officer KC Manaquelod.

Paskuhan sa Bagong Los Baños is part of the town’s Bañamos Festival, an annual festival that used to be celebrated in September. This year’s celebrations were moved to December as the local government focused on providing assistance to the flood affected barangays of Tadlac, Mayondon, Malinta, Bambang, Bayog, and Baybayin.

DAR assists Brgy. Dila ARC with coop license renewal

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by Ma. Kathleen C. Cabal

A Board of Directors Meeting of Dila Multipurpose Cooperative for Progress, Inc. (DMCP, Inc.) was held in Brgy. Dila, Bay, Laguna on January 27.

Councilor Menandro Curibot, the Board of Directors chairperson, together with Board of Directors members Emeterio Masa and Wensislao Arboleda were in attendance. Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer Ramon Sacramento, together with Mr. Danilo Yjares and Ms. Annaly Cutay from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) also took part in the meeting.

The board tackled one of the major concerns regarding the cooperative’s license renewal at the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA). Since the cooperative has not been able to accomplish the requirements prescribed by the CDA for the past two years, they were given a notice for the dissolution of the cooperative.

According to BOD chairperson Curibot, the operation of the cooperative is still ongoing despite their license situation. They are also currently addressing their problems in collection and their need for cost-cutting. The Department of Agrarian Reform, through Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer Sacramento, is currently assisting the DMCP, Inc. in bringing them back in stable condition.

The said cooperative received a Php250,000.00 grant from DAR as part of the Agricultural Development Fund which is being used to help the cooperative members and to continue the operation of the cooperative.

Barangay Dila, Bay, Laguna is one of the areas identified by DAR as an Agrarian Reform Community.

An Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) is a “barangay or cluster of barangays where there is a critical mass of farmers and farm workers awaiting the full implementation of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or CARP.”

With Barangay Dila being an ARC, it became a priority area for DAR to provide projects. In particular, it became a part of the Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Program II or ARISP II. This program will be having a series of incoming projects for the areas identified by DAR. Included in the areas identified by DAR in Bay, Laguna are Brgy. Puypoy, Brgy. Maitim and Brgy. San Antonio. These communities received land titles or certificate of land ownership awards from DAR.

As emphasized by Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer Sacramento, “Siyempre it is not enough na mabigyan mo sila ng lupa. Anong gagawin nila para maging productive ‘yon? Kailangan nila ng mga support services”. These support facilities include farm to market roads, irrigation, potable water supply, and post harvest facilities. Sacramento also stressed that with the Department of Agrarian Reform, “hindi lang lupa at support services ang binibigay but also dignity as the new land owners”. He explained that the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or CARP already ended on June 2009. What is currently being implemented is the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with Extension and Reform (CARPER).

CARPER is a five-year extension of CARP “which aims to accomplish the backlogs in terms of land distributions and support services.” Sacramento clarified that CARP is not the sole responsibility of DAR. There are several agencies listed as CARP implementing agencies including Department of Agriculture, National Irrigation Authority, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Trade and Industry, Land Registration Authority, Land Bank of the Philippines, and Department of Labor and Employment – Bureau of Rural Workers.

DMCP, Inc. started as Samahang Nayon on October 10, 1970. The said cooperative was registered at the CDA 18 years later. As of today, the cooperative have a total of 246 members. The cooperative currently has 45 active members.

They have already submitted all the necessary requirements for license renewal December 29 last year and they are set to submit the audited financial statement today at the CDA.

Bañamos Festival to celebrate ‘healing’ hot springs of Los Baños

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[PRESS RELEASE] The Special Science and Nature City of the Philippines will celebrate Bañamos—a unique healing waters festival—beginning September 14 that will highlight the town’s colorful history capped by various fun-filled events.

This year marks one decade of the Bañamos Festival in honor of the town’s patroness Nuestra Señora de Aguas Santas (Virgin of the Holy Waters). Bañamos, meaning ‘to bathe,’ carries the theme “Papuri’t Pasasalamat Nuestra Señora de Aguas Santas: Viva Bañamos sa Bagong Los Baños” and which also coincides with the town’s 396th founding year as a municipality.

Mayor Anthony Genuino said “Bañamos is a way to thank God for the blessings in Los Baños and for keeping our collective spirits alive in our efforts to promote science, environmental preservation and economic progress.”

For almost four centuries, it is believed that people who dip in water that emanates from the hot springs near the mystical Mt. Makiling of Los Baños are cured from ailments.

(Photo courtesy of the Los Baños Public Information Unit)

The tenth Bañamos Festival officially kicks-off on September 14 with a showcase of assorted local products such as the world-famous buko pie and other delicacies, handicrafts, organic health products, and construction materials made from recycled plastic.  Los Baños is a pioneering local government unit in the country that bans the use of plastic bags in public markets and grocery stores.

The Immaculate Conception Parish Church in Los Baños will hold the the Takbo Para Kay Maria, a 2K and 5K fund-raising fun run, which starts dawn on September 10 at the Baker Hall of the University of the Philippines Los Baños and at the Olivarez Plaza.  Proceeds of the event will go to various church projects of the parish.

The Dia Aguas Santas (Day of the Holy Waters) is set on September 17 where a symbolic public bathing will be held in a hot spring pool blessed with holy water near the Immaculate Conception Parish Church.

A procession called elejer, highlighted by spiritual street-dancing, will also be held where some 5,000 devotees are expected to join.  Once gathered near the lakeshore of Baybayin, the devotees will accompany the statue of the patroness as it is mounted to join a fleet of balsa or wide motorized fishermen’s boat in a fluvial parade that will traverse a portion of the lakeshore of Los Baños.

In the early 17th century the town was referred to as Los Baños or ‘public baths’ by a Franciscan priest named Pedro Bautista because of the locality’s abundant hot springs.  Public baths were then built by Spaniards after discovering the healing powers of the hot springs.

The Franciscan friars also constructed the Hospital de Nuestra Señora de las Aguas Santas de Mainit in honor of the patroness who is considered, even in modern times, as the spiritual icon of Roman Catholics in this town.  Los Baños became an independent municipality in the year 1615.

Mayor Genuino added that Bañamos also aims to further boost the town’s tourism potential with other attractions such as Mt. Makiling, Dampalit Falls, Old Pantalan, Tadlac (Alligator) Lake, Mud Spring, Magnetic Hill, along with prominent institutions like the Boy Scouts Jamboree Camp, the International Rice Research Institute, and the UP Los Baños.

Other highlights of the Bañamos Festival include the national dance competition called Bailamos along with street dancing showdown, waterball adventure at the lakeshore, battle of pop and traditional bands, bikathon-for-a-cause, hot spring spa and wellness showcase, town sale or cedera, a beauty pageant, and fireworks display by the lake near the expansive Paciano Rizal Park.

Aside from its prominence in academics, science and research, Los Baños is a well-known tourist weekend or summer getaway because of the town’s proximity to Metro Manila and its hot spring resorts and assorted native delicacies.

On August 7, 2000, Los Baños was declared as a “Special Science and Nature City of the Philippines” through Presidential Proclamation No. 349 in recognition as a center for science and technology in the development of agriculture and preservation of the environment.

A press release from the Los Baños Public Information Unit. For inquiries, contact [email protected].