Almost a month after this year's celebration of the Fiesta of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, more evidences lending credence to the charge of commercialization against the Naga City government led by its multi-awarded mayor, Jesse Robredo, are surfacing.
Of recent is the solicitation letter signed by Mayor Robredo himself, regarding the "Viva Naga, Viva Bicolandia" festival which reveals how the political leadership of the City endeavored to shamelessly sell the Traslacion and Fluvial processions of INA's fiesta to would-be sponsors. While Mayor Robredo's camp had denied any form of commercialization or "cashing-in" on the Fiesta, the mayor's letter together with the attached proposed sponsorship packages (which was recently provided us by one of those who received it, and of which we are publishing) undoubtedly confirms what had been going on for quite a while during Robredo's watch.
Despite the bilateral agreement recently reached with the Archdiocese of Caceres, and despite the protestations of many sectors of the community, the Naga City government undertook to continue peddling the religious activities of INA's Fiesta as if they were marketing and promotional events devoid of any sacred qualities. This is simply outrageous and must not happen anymore especially during the 300th year celebration of the devotion to INA.
Mayor Robredo's solicitation letter states that "the city government [is] spearheading the various civic activities" that are the civic components of INA's Fiesta which they dubbed "Viva Naga, Viva Bicolandia Festival." In previous editorials, we were very forthcoming in calling this festival parasitic because of its exploitation of INA's religious feast. The mayor's solicitation letter to sponsors undeniably indicates this.
The letter further informs sponsors that the listed activities in the sponsorship packages have been "devised" and "lined-up" by the City government to be "mutually beneficial . . . by way of promotional and marketing exposures." Among the listed activities are the Traslacion and the Fluvial processions. We ask: was it the City government who devised these processions? For clearly in its solicitation letter, the Robredo Administration claims to be the one which "owns" these religious activities.
With sponsorship packages that go as high as P2,000,000, the selling of INA's Fiesta would seem to be a very lucrative enterprise for Mayor Robredo's administration. And they say that there was no commercialization of INA's fiesta being done by the City government.
To fellow devotees of INA, we say: look again and be outraged.
To the next mayor of Naga City, we urge that s/he prevents this shameless selling of the religious feast from occurring again. Moreover, we urge the next mayor to conduct a probe on the previous administration's dealings with "Fiesta sponsors" and provide an authentic account of its profits.
The Traslacion, the Fluvial processions, the Fiesta itself and its religious activities, are not for sale. We must protect them from some unscrupulous individuals who have "sold their souls" already just so to earn a profit.