Sarangani Bay fishermen to stage “Lumba Bugsay”

By Pops H. Gumana

Alabel, Sarangani (10 May) — In celebration of the Sarangani Bay Festival on May 17-20, local fisherfolks from the six coastal municipalities of Sarangani and the City of General Santos will take a day’s halt from their usual catching to race for the “lumba bugsay.”

According to sponsor PRONET or Provincial Network of Resource Managers in the Province, Lumba bugsay, as one of the highlights of the festival, will be a group-paddling race exclusively for the municipal fisherfolks of Sarangani Bay.

It said the teams will be composed of seven persons per team and will race from barangay Kapatan in Malapatan town to tango beach in Glan.

Moreover, Engr. Nenita Barroso, executive director of Sarangani Tourism and Investment Promotion Center said “the festival aims to continuously pursue and encourage the current young generations to shield Sarangani Bay while promoting it as an eco-tourism site,”

Barroso, who is also trade and industry provincial director, describes the festival as “a window to reveal the rich culture of Sarangans and the historic stories that occurred around the bay.”

The launching of Sarangani Bay Festival is mandated by Provincial Ordinance No. 2006-5-30, enacted March this year by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan “to inculcate on the stakeholders… the importance for a continuous awareness drive of protecting the bay.”

The festival will also be held in consonance with the May 19 Provincial Charter Anniversary and in commemoration of May as Month of the Ocean. (PIO/PIA-SarGen)