No doubt, the recent 2012 Boac Bilabila Street Dance Competition is the most spectacular event staged in this Marinduque town during the last four decades. It may well be that the now-popular Panagbenga and Sinulog festivals have influenced the Bilabila but, but... one has to go back to the 60's when it was widely known that the only Philippine street pageant then, one that utilized costumes, masks, props and attracted the outside word for that Mardi Gras type of spectacle during those years, was none other than the Moriones of Marinduque - as staged in Boac and Mogpog.
The bigger towns and cities followed suit, the idea of these street pageants as tourist attractions then sparked the creation of Ati-atihan (Aklan), Dinagyang (Iloilo), Sinulog (Cebu), MassKara (Bacolod City), Pintados (Leyte), Sangyaw (Tacloban), Panagbenga (Baguio), Ibalong (Legaspi City) and today, countless others in big, or in the smallest towns in the entire country. Indeed, the creation of such festivals as tourist draws generate the local economy, while promoting local awareness of one's own culture and identity. The Marinduque towns of Gasan, Mogpog, Torrijos, Sta. Cruz, and Buenavista have conceptualized their own such street dances in recent years.
This year's Boac Bilabila Street Dance spearheaded by Mayor Roberto Madla with Councilor Sonny Paglinawan as Over-all Chair is one event that truly showcased the creativity of all those involved and may well be considered a perfect preview of bigger spectacles to come. A united Boac, with her river of the same name that divides the town, has finally arrived.
Thanks to Jingjing Garcia Loto of the Boac Municipal Information Office
for sharing the Bilabila photos used in this video.
