The proposal that emerged from the sessions of the Naga City Executive Council on Tercentenary Celebration that the traditional and annual Peñafrancia Civic-military parades be held before traslacion and not during the week of the Fiesta itself has been received well by some. For Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNNCI) president Albert Bercasio, those to be negatively impacted are students and their parents who are joining the said parades, and not owners of businesses.
This concern, sincere or otherwise, for the participants of the parades is valid. Given the assumption that they would need to return the following week for the pilgrimage to INA, an early visit to Naga would entail indeed additional expenses in transportation and lodging for those coming from neighboring towns and provinces.
Nonetheless, the above consideration seems to be missing the point behind the proposal, a point not motivated by economic or demagogic interests: the re-inculcation of a sense of solemnity in the celebration of INA's -and not Naga's-fiesta. We believe strongly that this point should over-ride the concern expressed above, given the reason why the Executive Council was created in the first place.
The Tercentenary Executive Council that was created by the Naga City government arose from the conflict between the Church and the City over the charge that INA's fiesta has been and is being commercialized, that is, the devotion to INA has been largely employed as a marketing ploy to enrich the city (one is tempted to say some of the city's top officialdom, but that is another matter). Accordingly, this executive body has been tasked with harmonizing the Church's and the City's activities in celebrating the Fiesta.
The proposal to move the schedule of parades-which we hear did not come from the Church but from a member of the Sanggunian Panglungsod-is clearly in keeping with the Council's original impetus. For too long, the City government's celebration of the Fiesta has been directed by concerns other than the sincere devotion to INA, that a proposal to reserve days during the Fiesta week devoted solely to prayer is being viewed as "uneventful," "unexciting."
A Fiesta week whose days are to be devoted to prayer is being viewed as mapongaw. Truly, for some, INA's Fiesta is essentially about pomp and circumstance.
In the meantime, we acknowledge that the decision to move the schedule of the parades is legitimately with the City government, particularly Mayor Jesse Robredo. Parades are civic activities within the ambit of the City government's authority, and not the Church's. That is very evident.
Nonetheless, to claim that parades are part of the celebration of a religious feast such as that of Our Lady of Peñafrancia requires the assent of religious authorities. That too is evident. If the latter authority refuses to acknowledge such parades as enhancing and promoting the Peñafrancia devotion, and thus asserts that they not be held during the Fiesta, then good sense and respect for the domain of religious authority compel acquiescence from the City government. An appeal to demagoguery, however, would reject this. In this, the City government ought to recognize the difference appealing to people's prejudices and siding with good sense.