“Give me a reason why I should go home to Quezon in August”
This simple statement, Quezon Rep. Aleta Suarez said, is what gave birth to the Niyogyugan Festival in the country’s longest province– named after its greatest son, the late President Manuel Luis Quezon.
Suarez, the brains behind Niyogyugan Festival, told The Standard they are first enticing the locals to witness the celebration, which traditionally lasts a week or more.
Quezon Gov. David “Jayjay” Suarez, on the other hand, is very optimistic that Lucena City will soon be packed with huge crowds of national and international tourists, as the festivities grow bigger and much better.
The Beginnings of Niyogyugan
Prior to start of the Niyogyugan festival in 2012 , the province merely had a trade fair promoting products from different parts of the coconut tree produced by local farmers. Given her intense passion for arts and culture, and her experience of witnessing the various festivals in the country, Suarez proposed to add the festivities and heighten the jovial mood to the trade fair, turning it into a full-blown agri-tourism occasion.
“Baguio’s flower industry is showcased in its Penagbenga festival… Cebuanos have the Sinulog and in Bacolod, they have Masskara… I also went to Bukidnon, Guimaras for their festivals. Sometimes, they’re just small towns and yet, they have their well known festivals. So why can’t Quezon, a province, have its own?”
The Niyogyugan Festival gets its name from “niyog” (coconut) and “yugyog” (shaking to the beat). The congresswoman quips, “Para masaya, tara na sa Niyogyugan!”
Using Our Coconut
Coconut is the main product of Quezon, and majority of the 600,000 Quezonians engaged in agriculture are in the coconut industry. With Niyogyugan, they are able to creatively boost the products from the coconut tree, touted as “Tree of Life’” in a fun and vibrant way.
Each of the Niyog-based products of the 39 municipalities and two cities of the province are showcased in individual booths. Thus, the occasion is an exhibition of the industry, ingenuity and creativity of local talents who crafted the various designs of the booths which are made up of 80 percent coconut products. They will all be competing for the P6 million worth of livelihood projects
Suarez said that with each passing year, the competition between the contestants involved in the creation of the booths have become stiffer.
She also noted that even the multi-colored gowns of pretty Quezonians vying for the Niyogyugan Festival Queen have become more fascinating every year. “I am very delighted!”
Solving Other Problems
Aside from boosting tourism, she said the festival is also proof that the insurgency problem in Quezon is a thing of the past.
“Many fear Quezon because of insurgency. But how will they know there’s no more insurgency in the province if we will not show them?” she asked.
The occasion likewise spurs economic activities especially in the 4th and 5th district or the low-income municipalities.
Once the goods are sold, owners of the booths will return to their hometowns to get more,”said Suarez. “They’re earning at least P20,000 a day,” she adds, saying that gross sales for the past two years was pegged at P6 million.
Future Plans
She said this is the first year they have tapped the print and broadcast media to promote the activities lined up for the festival. Previously, the province used social networking sites like Facebook to instill public awareness about Niyogyugan.
“We expect a growing number of Quezonians to go home for this occasion. Soon, we want to draw crowds from other places and even from other countries,” she said.
She also intends to seek the inclusion of Niyogyugan in the Department of Tourism Calendar of famous festivals in the Philippines. She will also meet with the provincial government leaders to discuss measures to institutionalize it as an annual event, to ensure its continuity and longevity through the years.
The congresswoman led the ribbon cutting last August 10 to kick off the festivities, paying homage to the coconut tree. The week long festivities also involved a competition of cleverly-built floats made from different parts of a coconut tree and street-dancing competition by dancers clad in coconut-inspired coconut products.
