Al Cinco De Noviembre Festival: The 125th Celebration

The 5th of November in 1898, marked the history of Negros Island lead by General Juan Araneta from the south and General Anecito Lacson from the north to revolt against the Spaniards colonizing the island. With the countless hacienderos and sugarcane workers with their cannons, marched together from the opposite direction towards Bacolod City and surrounded the municipal building with their unwavering resolved to burn it down to the ground, resulting for the Spanish forces to surrender. The day made the greatest historical bluff and deception in the country for the cannons were made from bamboo and rolled amakan, and the rifles were carved out of woods and coconut fronds with the only actual advantage for winning which was the number of townspeople gathered from different towns in Negros.

The day was known as Al Cinco de Noviembre Festival or the Negros Day and is celebrated annually to commemorate the bloodless revolution lead by the two Generals and the townspeople. You can read the history further here at Experience Negros.

Recently, the famous Fancy Drill Competition were back again after years of pause due to pandemic, in this year's 125th Al Cinco De Noviembre. Wherein, different schools around Negros are invited and free to join, and this time, (5) competing schools this year have responded and sent their participants to showcase their most disciplined, well-coordinated, and talented CAT/ROTC troops for the championship and garner the given awards.

Before facing the judges in the arena, each of the competing schools carried out their drills for the street performance. There was also a parade of cannons by the competing barangays of Bago City and the Tactical Inspection for the Fancy Drillers all held in the morning. However, we only have gone there for the most exciting and thrilling part of the celebration -the Fancy Drill Arena Competition.

It started at 2:00 pm, wherein the Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Coliseum and Cultural Center were fully occupied by the delegates of each representing schools to give their utmost support for their troops in the competition. The blazing heat of the afternoon couldn't restrain someone ablaze to passionately support their representatives. Silence within the walls of the coliseum only lasted momentarily, as the host officially welcomed the Fancy Drillers, guests, judges, and the audience, roars and applause soared in the air monopolizing the entire space.

This was the situation inside when we searched for vacant seats. Different lights were beaming on different angles positioned to produce a clearer coverage for the screen intended for the audience seated farther from the arena and to capture captivating images for documentation during the program.

We were seated at the Faculty area of STI - West Negros University since all of the people I know here with me were Instructors of the university's ROTC Unit. Nevertheless, I couldn't fully pledge my support to the university because the other participating school representatives' were one of my students in Basic First And Emergency Rescue recently. Well, I have experienced teaching on both schools actually, that's why I'm rooting for the success of the both. Whoever wins between them or any other participating schools here, I'll be glad for their championship and whatever awards they will gather in this kind of competition. I know they all have worked hard for this moment. Usually, it would take them months to master all the drills they would perform it in just almost 15 minutes in the arena. I'm even impressed by their discipline and dedication.

The performances were totally breathtaking! Each of the drills performed by the troops were anticipated by the audience, all attentions were fixated while they performed, and the evident spring of excitement were visible in the air, especially at the narration of history and formations by each schools. They also entertained the audience and judges by their swiftest, coolest, and funniest dance performances in the middle of their drills.

After the performances, all of the troops were mandated to gather in the arena at the same formation they had before the event started. All in proper attention, they stood there waiting for the decision of the judges. The wait was temporary as the host announced the winners from with the best dance performance, best street performer, best platoon leader, best in uniform, and the placers from 2nd, 1st, and Champion.

For this year's champion was Enriquetta de Esteban Memorial High School from the Municipality of Pulupandan. The unbeatable, back to back champion, and they have maintained the place of being a Grand Slam Champion for years now. I've witnessed it myself and I admit that I was awestruck too in watching every drills they had performed. Their moves were uncluttered, precise, polished, and effortlessly delivered, laudable and deserving of the awards they garnered in the street and the arena.

The STI-WNU was in the 2nd place and the Lopez Jaena National High School have gotten the 1st place. Both of this school performed remarkably too, but one of their drillers have dropped their rifles and swords once or twice during the performance which was a deduction to their overall points in the scoring guidelines of the judges. Despite that, my warmest congratulations to all of the participating schools for travelling far to help this another historical event happen.

If I ever caught your interest by sharing this unique kind of Festival, you can see the posts and watches the videos uploaded by The Citybridge (Bago City Newsletter) in their Facebook account and discover more knowledge about the recent celebration.

All of the photos uploaded in this blog are mine unless stated otherwise. Thanks for reading and dropping by. Have a great day!

@ayane-chan