“Ano ang sining at kultura? Ito ba ay palabas lamang o mere intermission number? Madalas, ang culture and arts ay tinataguriang ‘yabang ng lahi’ o ‘pride of our race,’ ngunit may nagsasabing ito ay pagwawaldas lamang ng pera o kapritso ng mga mayayaman.”

These admittedly ponderous points were just some of the thoughts that Thursday night’s audience at the Public Auditorium took with them on their way home, thoughts that provoked and thus made the affair called Gabi ng Kultura at Parangal such an enriching experience.

Meant to celebrate the town’s rich cultural heritage and at the same time honor this year’s crop of winners from the different culture and arts competitions held in the week long foundation day festivities, the night proved to be more than that.

Perhaps the evening’s anchor Julie Junio best summed up, at the outset, the tenor of hour: the “gabi ng parangal sa sining at kultura” necessitated a mindset of unity: “Di na kanya-kanya or kayo-kayo, kundi tayo-tayo.” Culture, or art, after all, is inclusive; it is meant for both the man on the street and those at the upper echelons of society. And on this night, the twain indeed literally met at the town square.

***

In his inspirational message, Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao underscored the essence of the Parangal: to extol model Bayambangueños, people “who show us the way how to make use of our God-given gifts for the benefit of all.”

“Exposing your talents to the public is an act of bravery especially because Bayambangueños, from experience, are, like most Filipinos, a very discriminating audience. Mabli so tipak na taga-Bayambang. (Mahal ang palakpak ng taga-Bayambang.) By making a public act, you expose yourself to, not just public praise, but also to public criticism.”

“Developing your talent is not easy. It requires hard work, patience, persistence – you don’t stop until you get things right. Perhaps your only consolation is you get to live out your passion and you enjoy the work you do. Not everyone persists until they get things perfect, that is why a product of hard labor amazes us all – it means someone persisted where most of us would have given up. Nurturing an art, especially with the meager resources you have at your disposal, is therefore a heroic act. It deserves our applause. This is why we have set apart a night like this.”

***

The program proper presented the honorees in quick succession, for the list was quite long – but not without interspersing the different categories with the presentations of the emergent winner in each category.

After an interesting folk dance that drove away evil spirits, Shekinah Dizon soon reprised her charming interpretation of “Yesterday’s Dream” while delivering a timeless message. John Aquino moved hearts with his powerful singing of the theme from the teleserye Ang Probinsiyano, “Wag Ka Nang Umiyak.” As expected, Tanolong National High School’s dance troupe displayed with dexterity their delicate binasuan balancing skills. And the much-awaited Tococ National High School team dazzled with their explosive street-dance number, which told the story of Bayambang, from its botanical origin down to the age of Balon Bayambang. (Incidentally, their number was the 5th runner-up in Agew na Pangasinan.) Not to be outdone was BayamBands’ reigning champ, Flapjack, whose cover of the Lani Misalucha version of “Queen of the Night” shocked and awed and amused.

As if all of the above were not enough, the Pangasinan State University’s Matalunggaring Dance Troupe would once again daze and dazzle everyone with their breathtakingly difficult “Sayaw ed Tapew na Bangko,” a Pangasinense pride and treasure. Members of the Bayambang Municipal Council of Culture and the Arts (BMCCA) led by retired Prof. Januario Cuchapin brought a sense of elegance from another epoch in the form of Lanceros de Bayambang, a rigodon type of group dance.

***

The parade of performances was punctuated by a surprise honoring ceremony for Mayor Quiambao, for doing what he has done for the town and for making everything possible and worth celebrating, a gesture that did not fail to move the local chief executive.

The night’s guest of honor and speaker, Malolos-based culture and arts stalwart Armando Pilapil Sta. Ana (the source of the opening quotes), was equally a fount of wisdom in his speech. After kindly pointing to the “entrance and exit relationship between Malolos and Bayambang” (Malolos being the country’s first capital during the revolutionary period and Bayambang being the 5th and last), Sta. Ana argued convincingly that there is money in culture and arts (“That is Europe’s main source of livelihood.”), that cultural tourism exists as an answer to poverty and so culture and economics need not be at loggerheads. Sta. Ana went so far as to challenge us Bayambangueños as to our preferred tourism tagline for the purpose of branding or packaging our town.

But for Sta. Ana, culture and arts are not mere economic goods. “In modern understanding, art is a mirror of man’s soul,” he said.

***

As a fitting conclusion, Hilconida Castillo Ambat led the singing, for the first time, of the official Bayambang Hymn written by daughter Jane Frances Ambat van Doorn. Everyone, of course, stood up in attention, right hand on chest, as clumps of yellow balloons made their way up in the air.

Gabi ng Kultura at Parangal was, in the end, a song and dance extravaganza and a much-welcome break from the mundane and the mindless, a celebration of this town’s vibrant culture and arts, an honoring for its exemplary practitioners, a review of history, a reflection on cultural identity and art per se, and finally, a toast to the person who made it all possible, thanks to his unwavering and wholehearted support, none other than the father of the town who is also the Honorary Chairman of the BMCCA.