LOBOC, Bohol (PIA) — Two years after the devastation brought by Typhoon Odette, the town of Loboc in Bohol mounted the first Suba Festival which is literally translated as “river festival”.
“This is our tribute to the river, which has played a significant role in the lives of the people,” Municipal Administrator Christine Mae Digal said.
The festival, which was held on December 16, was also a reminder of how the river expressed its wrath by inundating the town and left one fatality in its wake, Digal added.
The festival opened with a fluvial parade featuring the Loboc Brass Band while boats took guests for a trip down the Loboc River.
There was also a reenactment of the Loboc Church’s history and a Bolibongkingking performance, the town’s ritual dancing for the Lady of Guadalupe.
A short program followed highlighted by the performance of local cultural groups, including the Loboc Children’s Choir and Sug-ong Rondalla, which won the provincial Rondalla contest.
In the afternoon, dragon boats from the Bohol Paddlers Association Inc. took to the river to demonstrate their paddling skills while river cruise boats glided past them.
To highlight the river’s cultural relevance, the “Search for Engkantadia sa Loboc ” was staged in the afternoon with eight candidates representing the cluster barangays in Loboc.
Claed in their fairy-inspired costumes, each candidate brought to life the river goddesses and spirits while demonstrating their advocacy for the protection and conservation of the river.
“The Suba Festival has become another potential tourist ace for the town,” Digal said.
A dragonboat slices through the waters of Loboc River as a river cruise passes by during the 1st Suba Festival. Dragonboats were used when a big flood submerged most of the Poblacion area to rescue people from their rooftops. (PIA Bohol)
Keepers of the river
A 4th class municipality, the riverside town of Loboc hosts the Loboc River, located around 24 kilometers away from Bohol’s capital, Tagbilaran City.
Loboc is famous for the world-renowned, award-winning Loboc Children’s Choir that has won several global competitions. The town is also home to one of the world’s smallest primates, the tarsier, a small, nocturnal, monkey-like mammal with large, red eyes.
Visitors also flock to Loboc for the lunch cruises along the scenic and winding Loboc River, one of the clearest and cleanest rivers in the country.
The river, which served as the inland market during pre-Spanish until the Hispanic period, allowed for faster transport and a calm waterway for goods going up and down stream.
Bamboo rafts and trade boats cruised down the river to reach the town some 10 kilometers away from the Loay estuary.
A waterway that lazily winds through verdant mangrove forests and riverside communities, the river is also rife with myths and legends of spirits, giants, and encantos that protect the river.
These are anchored on the common belief that the mythical creatures are the keepers of the river.
Locals believe that the river used to take lives and that singing while paddling or traversing through the river appeases the spirits.
This is also a possible reason why the popular river cruises always feature musical performances.
Although the river is life for the town, incidents of overflowing river have become common, especially that the river is now heavily silted and forest cover in the watershed has thinned, sending rainwater from the mountains directly into the river channel.
Each time the river overflows and floods the town, Lobocanons take this as a sign that they have somehow angered the guardians of the river.
Digal said that Municipal Councilor Efren Mandin had earlier proposed to pay tribute to the river with a festival as he saw Loboc River as the town’s biggest blessing.
The river cruise is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bohol.
Since its re-opening in March 2022, the river cruise has received an average of 150 visitors daily, with at least 25 percent of them foreign tourists based on data from the Department of Tourism Region 7. (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)
‘Engkantadia sa Suba’candidates bring to life the river goddesses during the first Suba Festival in Loboc, Bohol on Dec. 16, 2023. (PIA Bohol)
