Tacurong City: A Place to Admire

I started living in Tacurong City in the year 2005. It is in every September that this city's celebrate their Talakudong Festival. But only this year's festival that I got interested to attend to. I gave myself a chance and had a peek on what kept the city busy in their preparations.

As a start, I would like to quote the short history of Tacurong City from one of the articles I've read.

Tacurong was once a barangay of the Municipality of Buluan of the empire province of Cotabato. It was separated from its mother town Buluan and was created a municipality by Executive Order Number 462 signed by the late President Elpidio Quirino on August 3, 1951.  Tacurong then has an estimated area of 40,000 hectares comprising of 14 barangays. When Tantangan, a barangay of Tacurong was created into a municipality in 1961, the Southern portion of Tacurong was separated. The area was further reduced when President Quirino was created into a municipality in 1973 taking with it some of the eastern portions. Tacurong now stands at a total area of 15,340 hectares, the smallest in the Province of Sultan Kudarat.

After 49 years of existence as a municipality, Tacurong became the first component city of the Province of Sultan Kudarat through the efforts of Hon. Angelo O. Montilla, the Congressman of the Lone District of Sultan Kudarat by virtue of House Bill No. 6497 duly approved and signed by his Excellency President Joseph E. Estrada through Republic Act 8805 “An Act Converting the Municipality of Tacurong into a Component City of the Province of Sultan Kudarat to be known as the City of Tacurong” on August 16, 2000 and duly confirmed by the “Tacurongnons” on a plebiscite held on September 18, 2000. ~Source: Tacurong City History~

Photo credit from Tacurong Online www.tacurongcity.net

I considered this city as my home already since I have worked in one of the big hospitals, casted votes during the National and Local elections and been supporting and participating in the programs and advocacies. As they said, sometimes life just seems like chapters. Some good, some bad, but all come together to create the story of our lives. Tacurong City was often in the headlines of bombings and conflicts especially during elections, but the city stayed strong and vigilant to maintain peace and harmony among the Tacurongnons.

In this years Festival, I started participating in the Marathon Run initiated by the government. It's good to know that city officials encourage a healthy life in the campaign of doing a daily habit of doing exercise.

On September 18, under the heat of the sun, me and my family went out to see the Field Demonstration participated by different schools in the city.  I was really amazed of how people appreciated the event.

The salakot is a common symbol for Filipino identity. It is often portrayed as the hat worn by Juan de la Cruz, the symbol of the collective Filipino psyche equivalent to Uncle Sam of the Americans. The custom of embellishing this Filipino headgear developed as a practice during the Spanish Regime. Though normally worn by farmers, the wealthy and landed Christian Filipinos and mestizos (especially the members of the Principalía), would also use the salakot, emboss this hat with silver, and sometimes hang silver coins and pendants around the headgear's brim. Many depictions of gobernadorcillos and cabezas de barangay would portray these public functionaries during the colonial period wearing ornate salakots. It was not uncommon for this class to wear salakot made of more precious materials (like tortoise shell and precious metals). ~Wikipilipinas~

In this competition, salakot is the primary material used by participants. These salakots were designed uniquely that definitely attracted the attention of everybody. They were waved and handled very beautifully by participants that caught spectator's eyes immediately.

Participants danced gracefully despite the heat of the sun. They showed spectaculiar performances that showcased different tribes. Their colorful costumes added to the celebration of this festivity.

I felt that I'm really at home.

With this, I believe that Tacurong has a long way to go. And in this journey, each one of us has a part to help improve the City of Goodwill. Until next Talakudong Festival. Mabuhay ka Tacurong!