By Perla Lena/PNA
ILOILO CITY — This city, which has been doing its part of giving attention to the need to protect the seas and other coastal resources, marked the 47th year of the Iloilo Guimaras Paraw Regatta Festival that culminated with a sailing event on Sunday (February 17).
“We have been doing this ever since to give focus on our seas. We have to see to it that our natural resource is protected and we do this through our Paraw Regatta,” Iloilo City Mayor Jose Espinosa III said during the opening of the race.
The mayor said that while Boracay and Manila gave attention to their waters just recently, Iloilo City has been doing it for 47 years now.
“Because of this I am now contemplating that this year Paraw Regatta will be our next entry to the Galing Pook Award,” he said.
Iloilo has been a recipient of two Galing Pook Awards for its Dinagyang Festival and the rehabilitation of the Iloilo River.
Espinosa said that his vision, with the support of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and other stakeholders, is to make the beachline of this city “swimmable” again.
“This is a beautiful place. If we can have a focus and make this place clean again, this is doable. If we will just concentrate, do our efforts together, we will have that dream again,” he added.
Meanwhile, lawyer-environmentalist Antonio Oposa lauded the city for “maintaining the culture of the sea, maintaining our love for the sea”.
“Thank you very much Iloilo because you have revived our love for the sea,” he said, adding that he also wanted to replicate the Paraw Regatta in Bantayan, Cebu where he came from.
He also committed to give his endorsement should the city government push through with its plan to make the festival its entry to the Galing Pook Award.
Dr. Ronald Raymond L. Sebastian, president of the Iloilo Paraw Regatta Foundation Inc. (IPRFI), said the festival has improved a lot as it has now more activities and not just the sailing competition.
He added that the city saw the potential of the festival to even grow bigger in the future.
Paraw Regatta Festival’s main sailing event was participated in by 42 “paraws” or double outrigger sailboats.
The boat crew, with their skills as they rely only on the movement of the wind for their mobility, attempt to cross the more or less 15-kilometer stretch starting from the Tatoy’s Manokan and Restaurant in Arevalo towards the Bundolan Point in Jordan, Guimaras and back to Arevalo, passing through five markers.
The winners will be awarded in a ceremony Sunday evening.
