A few days before Christmas, the City of San Fernando has lit up its lanterns in several key areas, promoting a “ray of hope” and honoring Fernandino COVID-19 frontliners.
The launching of the lantern displays was held on November 16, 2020 at the City’s Command and Control Center in Barangay San Isidro and was personally witnessed by Mayor Edwin “EdSa” Santiago and former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who served as the event’s main guest.
For this year, the lantern displays initially lit up were at Heroes Hall in San Juan; City Hall and Poblacion Area; and, Civic Center in San Isidro.
Engr. Remedios Agoncillo, City Investment Promotion Officer, said that while the City Government is focusing on health care and social services now, they exerted effort to light up lanterns giving hope to Fernandinos amidst the pandemic.
“For this year, ang pinapalaganap natin ay ang ‘ray of hope.’ Umpisa pa lang ng aming pagpaplano, napag-usapan na ang tema ay ganito. This is to give Fernandinos, the Kapampangans, and the Filipino, in general, ng pag-asa na ang lahat ng kapagsubukan ay matatapos din,” Agoncillo said.
Agoncillo revealed that due to limited funding, the materials used for this year’s lanterns were from the previous year, while some of the lanterns were donated by the city’s stakeholders, including Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. and PLDT Communications, Inc.
The repair and improvement of the lanterns was led by two Fernandino renowned makers, Arvin Quiwa and Roland Quiambao, who have been both designing Parul Sampernandu (San Fernando lanterns) for years now.
Mayor Santiago said that, with the occurrence of a pandemic, the lanterns’ role has become more significant.
“Dito natin mas nakikita ang kahalagahan ng ating mga parol. Patunay lamang ito na hindi lamang sila palamuti sa mga kabahayan, sa mga gusali, sa mga kalsada kung hindi simbolo rin sila ng pag-asa, lalo na ngayong humaharap tayo sa pandemiya,” he said.
Meanwhile, the lighting of the displays along the Jose Abad Santos Avenue (JASA) and on the two flyovers in the city is set in the coming days, said Jeffrey Yutuc, CIPO Project Development Officer II.
The lanterns along JASA were partly damaged due to the heavy rains and strong winds caused by Typhoon Ulysses during the previous week but are now being repaired by the City Engineer’s Office and the lantern makers.
Also present during the activity were Vice Mayor Jimmy Lazatin, Third District Representative Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales, Jr., Governor Dennis “Delta” Pineda, Chief Executive Officer Dennis Uy of Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. and Dennis Magbatoc, Assistant Vice President of PLDT Enterprise.
Under the Tourism and Culture agenda of the Santiago administration, the City is steadfast in supporting its local lantern makers.
Apart from tapping them to create the lantern displays yearly, the City also recently rolled out its economic recovery assistance under the Economic Recovery and Rehabilitation Program where each of the total of 30 registered and legitimate lantern makers received P20,000-worth of monetary and in-kind assistance.