Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sec. Salvador “Sal” Panelo joins Novo Ecijanos in celebrating the toned-down version of the Taong Putik Festival amid the pandemic this year. Photos show him (top) with face mask beside Aliaga Mayor David Angelo Vargas holding a lit candle while (lower photo) he is photographed in the company of other devotees garbed in banana leaves in front of a rice field in Bgy. Bibiclat on June 24. Photos sourced by STEVE A. GOSUICO from the FB PAGE OF MAYOR VARGAS.
Panelo joins Ecija’s ‘Taong Putik’ celebration
ALIAGA, Nueva Ecija — Even with the pandemic, the “Taong Putik” show must go on.
For the second consecutive year, the feast of St. John the Baptist in Bgy. Bibiclat was celebrated the “special way” minus the merry-making and large crowds that marked its previous celebrations, said Mayor David Angelo Vargas.
Just like last year when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Vargas said this religious tradition of the Aliageños pushed through on Thursday morning here.
The devotees, dressed in banana leaves with faces and bodies covered with mud, were seen standing lined up in front of their homes while awaiting the arrival of the saint’s statue as its motorcade passed through the barangays, with parish priest Father Elmer Villamayor blessing each one of them, all the way back to the church.
“Ang Taong Putik ay isang tradition na personal sa amin na nag-iisa lang sa mundo. Bilang isang deboto hindi kami papayag na hindi ito maganap. Kaya po sa ikalawang pagkakataon idinaos po namin ito muli sa sarili naming mga bahay habang hinihintay ang pagdating ni San Juan Bautista,” said the mayor.
“Napaka espesyal ng taon po na ito dahil muling dumalaw ang ating patron sa ating mga tahanan upang magbigay ng proteksyon at basbas sa bawat tahanan,” added Vargas.
What made the celebration “more special” was the participation in the festival of Presidential Legal Counsel chief Sec. Salvador “Sal” Panelo and members of the Philippine Commission on Women, said the mayor in his Facebook page.
“Isang taos pusong pasasalamat sa mga taong nakikiisa sa aming tradition kabilang na po si Sec. Sal Panelo at ang mga commissioner ng Philippine Commission on Women,” added Vargas, who posted a photo of Panelo with him while holding a lit candle, garbed in banana leaves in the company of other devotees in front of a rice field.
Meanwhile, the celebration of the Taong Putik Festival this year came as Nueva Ecija First District Rep. Estrellita “Ging” Suansing announced that House Bill No. 9517, which she authored, was approved on second reading last June 2.
It seeks to declare the Diocesan Shrine of St. John the Baptist, or the Taong Putik site in Bgy. Bibiclat here, as a tourist destination, providing for its development and the appropriation of funds.
