Carabao Festival Crowds

These people were lucky as the roof didn't give in to all their weight and allowed them to watch the famous Carabao Festival held a couple of days ago at Pulilan, Bulacan. And they also got to see the rampaging carabao who let loose his anger on some of the crowds watching the Carabao Festival.

It was really a hot Thursday afternoon here in Pulilan, Bulacan as I snapped the these local residents above the street-level, all braving the heat and eagerly watching the parade from their vantage points.


The program host kept on instructing the marshals, the local police and barangay tanods to push back the crowd which had built up. But “matigas ang ulo.” There is definitely a better need for crowd control. Even the photographers were "matigas ang ulo" as we would sometimes obstruct the parade route hoping to capture the moment when the carabao kneels infront of the church... or some pretty face leading the parade.

Photo shows local residents finding shade under the specially-constructed view-deck, found in front of the church entrance, where the carabao pass and kneel to pay respect to thier patton saint, San Isidro Labrador.


These nuns and local residents probably had some of the best seats along the streets of Pililan to watch the Carabao Festival.


At least the tree kept these kids cool and away from the heat of the sun.

This was my first time to watch the Carabao Festival and hopefully, my travel here won't be the last. Maybe, next time, Chief would come with me, together with Rene, Nady and Issa? I was also in town a few months back as I did some "quick and dirty" brand awareness research for a client and talked to some local residents.

I would like to thank my friend, Donald Tapan, for these travel steps to Pulilan, Bulacan and the warmth and hospitality of the local town. Special thanks to Santi Santos, one of the festival's organizers, who welcomed us, provided us with IDs and free lunch!

Next year again?

Unang Hirit in Pulilan

By 5am, I had reached the 5-Star bus terminal in Cubao, Quezon City.

Chief and I had slept late last night. We watched Robin Williams swap stories and deliver punch-lines at the “Late Show with David Letterman.”


It has been nearly ten years since I met up with Donald Tapan. I had first met him when I was with CITEM. Our creative team worked with several known photogs for our requirements. But this Thursday, I didn’t have a Job Order or Creative Brief for him. It was really just a simple out of town leisure photo coverage of a famous festival, the Carabao Festival.

One of my students had expressed interest to do a photography thesis and I had introduced Jenna Alejandro to Donald Tapan by SMS. Jenna had secured her parent’s approval and was joining this trip.

I tried to catch some sleep during the bus ride, but the excitement kept me awake most of the strip. The bus ticket cost only 59 pesos!

By 7am, we were in Pullilan. Took a tricycle ride to the front of the Pulilan Church. We quickly saw the production team of “Unang Hirit” already preparing for the features. Between "Umagang Kay Ganda" and "Unang Hirit," can you guess which one serves me the local news in the mornings?

Here are some “behind the scenes” pictures from the Thursday feature of “Unang Hirit” on the Carabao Festival.

The Search for Lucban Longganisa

We spent Saturday afternoon (02 May 2009) in Lucban. I didn’t even realize that it was nearly an hour’s drive from Tayabas to Lucban. Originally, we had planned to spend only one night in Quezon. But somehow, I got to convince Chief, Issa, Nady and Aida to spend one night in Lucban. Both Rene and I had agreed earlier that this trip to Quezon was worth an extra night in Lucban!

Lucban is very near the footsteps of Mt. Banahaw. According to the 2007 census, the municipality has a population of 45,616. Lucban is famous around the world for the annual Pahiyas Festival which is held every May 15. But we would be missing that festival this year. Maybe, next year? My good friend, Nady, snapped this photo of my jump for Banahaw!

Along the way, we passed by Mt. Banahaw, which stands at 2,158 meters or 7,080 feet. This mountain is considered to be sacred, even enchanted. Even, talks of being “alien.” The word “banahaw” is close to the modern Tagalog words BANAL THAW which literally mean a holy being. That deserves a blog on its own. But here’s one photo I snapped.



It was late Saturday afternoon when we arrived at the town proper. Ryan Palad, our heritage resource expert in Tayabas, had recommended we stay at Casa Rizal. He said it was right at the center of the town. He was right. The only problem was parking. Shaq found a space front of Café San Luis, where we had a light snack after we had checked in at the hotel. Cost of room was 2,200 per day. Not bad. Much cheaper than the 3,200 per day at the aborted beach hotel in Tayabas.



There were a few patrons at Café San Luis. The turon was a best-seller here. But am not really used to a “tiny” turon. I like my turon long and wrapped well so that it is crunchy and the wrapper “breaks” as one takes a bite. It should also be flavored with langka.

Photo of turon bought by Rene Bernal and shared by everyone, courtesy of my Canon DSLR.

There wasn’t really much to see around the town this weekend, except the church and for me, the wet market. Am sure during the Pahiyas Weekend, this town would be more exciting and crowded!

The morning after, we hit the “palengke” and our search for the famous Lucban longganisa begun.



While Chief and Rene were buying longganisa at the corner store infront of the palengke, I snapped these longganisa pictures.


Any trip to Lucban would not be complete without the famous Lucban longanisaa. We bought more than enough for our families.



Makes you want to have breakfast with fried eggs and fried rice and... deep-fried Lucban longganisa!

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