Fishermen are the guests of honor at Bagac’s 155th anniversary

Bagac, Bataan, a municipality best known for the Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar, turns 155 on November 21, and the town is preparing to throw a celebration in honor of its fishermen.

The 7th Burador Festival, Bagac’s official festival, runs during the third week of November to line up with the founding anniversary. This year’s theme is “Pamamalakaya: Lipad ng Turismo, Yaman ng Kultura, Tibay ng Pananampalataya.”

“Pamamalakaya” means fishing as a livelihood, and the municipality says this year’s edition is built around Bagac’s fishing communities.

In its 2021 socio-economic profile of the town, the provincial government counted 1,695 full-time fishers working 483 motorized boats and 36 non-motorized ones. They share a fish port that handles post-harvest work like smoking and processing the catch.

The fish behind the name

“Burador” is the local word for flying fish, and it’s on the festival’s logo. The municipality reads it as a sign of abundance and a good catch.

Technically, flying fish glide. They pick up speed underwater, then spread long, wing-like fins to sail over the surface. Its jump above the waves doubles as a picture of a town that wants to keep climbing.

Blessings for land and sea

The “Bancarada” is a boat design and parade competition where bancas, the outrigger boats used for fishing, get decorated and put on display.

The “Karakol”, subtitled “Pagbabasbas sa Bukid at Dagat”, is a procession asking the town’s patron saint for protection and a good harvest from both its farmland and its fishing grounds. Bagac leans on both. The same provincial profile puts the town’s rice sufficiency at almost 209 percent, which means it grows a little more than twice the rice it consumes.

That saint is Catherine of Alexandria, whom Bagakeños call “Apo Ina”. She gets a night of her own, the “Gabi ng Parangal kay Apo Ina”, and the festival lands just days before her November 25 feast.

A program honoring the fisherfolks

“Indak sa Bagac” is the street dancing competition, with contingents performing routines drawn from the town’s own stories. “Kainan at Kantahan sa Bayan” is a town-wide gathering for local food and singing. “Tugtugan sa Salimbayan” hands the stage to local musicians and performers. Schools, barangays, local organizations, and fisherfolk all take part.

Bagac sits on Bataan’s west coast, about 151 kilometers from Manila, and foundation day falls on a Saturday this year.

A flying fish only stays above the water for a moment before it drops back in. Once the festival wraps, the bancas head back out to sea, and so do the people Bagac spent a week cheering for.