2014 BATAAN DAY

Marching Band galore.

Weeks ago, I went crazy downloading, at least one film about the fall of Bataan for the benefit of this site to no avail. Today, I was able to view that authentic period film, "Back to Bataan" in celebration of the Bataan Day, April 9, 2014. 

Frequently, we got advisory on our office email ad about provinces having non working day due to Provincial holiday such as Pampanga day, Bulacan day etc., to which on our belief is unfair. When they celebrate their provincial holiday they're the only ones who have no office. When it's Bataan Day, the entire country has no offices.

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This is the second try to capture me, without covering the background.
I had to particularly instruct that to the person who took the photo.

We anually get invitation from Malacanang (no less, as I perceive based on the signatory of the invite) for the Araw ng Kagitingan Celebration in Mt. Samat. It is the national official (or official national? I forgot my lesson in adjectives) commemoration rites attended by the President of the Philippines. We usually receive the invite on the day before of the event. I was quite confident that it will be delivered before the end of office hours on April 8, 2014, despite the my boss' anxiety. Earlier that day, we got an invite from the city government for the local celebration. 

The objectives
1. to attend the event.
2. for the organizers to know that we participated
3. to cover the event - through pictures and report at the end of the month.

What do we get out of it?
1.Our office, gets merits for participation. A percentage point for our accomplishments i. e. ratings for the agency annual awards.
2. when our presence is felt by the organizer. We get another invitation. Another percentage point for the ratings.  

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April 9, 2014 - Bataan Day activty organized by the City Government of Balanga.

The Programme says 3:00- 4:00 PM - theatrical reenactment of the fall of Bataan and the parade follows. Oh my, we are talking about April which is summer - I guess. 3:00PM?

Aside from attending the event as mandatory responsibility being a government employee, I am actually liking to get involved in such activities. I get to know more about Bataan. Not to the extent of knowing how many feet the Shrine of Valor in  Mt. Samat has. I (which also means our office) get more conspicuous-not popular, in these events. 

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I came late because I got an extended siesta. Thus, I can't give a critique on the ceremonies. I'm not into theater so had I watched the act, I will still not be able to give a sound judgement. I arrived at the venue when the people are walking towards Plaza de Mayor, which does not pass as a parade to me. What I saw was an after-performance set. I tried to take picture of what's left at the venue, just in case all the ceremonies are finished. I was trying to take a candid shot but one of the staff was kind enough to tell the actors to look at my camera. 

I was aiming for  magazine cover worthy shot of the military which I didn't get.
This was the closest I had. 

I decided to go to the next venue where the parade ends. I was clueless whether the ceremonies are done. I was then informed that the parade was just about to arrive. I brought my camera out and took pictures of the banner and police mobile of the parade. On my third or fourth shot I realized that I ran out of memory. To decide which shots to delete is one of the hardest things in life. Pictures of my weekend family swimming was involved. By the time I realized that those were saved in my netbook and actually deleted few of those, the marching band and the floats of the city government officials have already passed.  Ultimately, the main objective is to take a picture which would seem that I was part of the parade. I asked one of the by-standers to take a photo of me in the parade. There are few other instances that I have to ask and the rest are selfies.

Since I was not satisfied with my selfie, I opt to take shots of other people.

One of the activities of the event is photo-ops with the Japanese actors dressed in military costumes. I have no idea whether they understand or speak English. Another problem is to look for someone to take my picture. I settled with approaching the actors telling them "Sir, selfie?"

Selfie with the actors. There were more japanese looking actors. It happens that
they are the ones I was able to approach at that moment.

Having no idea what happened to the earlier program, I was still expecting that an official would at least deliver a speech. The next program is exhibition of the marching band. What is a festivity without a marching band? The master of ceremony asked the two marching bands to take turns in entertaining the people. When I mention people, it  means the Province and City Scholars who are required to attend the event - complete with attendance sheet and time cards. When the bands ran out of acts, the MC signaled the start of the public viewing of the film "Back to Bataan". That also prompted the scholars to punch their time cards.

Again, I had to approach a lady to take my picture with the giant screen on the background, only to find out that my broad body covered the view of that giant screen. The second person I approached, I specifically instructed to take picture of me, making sure that the giant screen and the Philippine flag can be seen in full. By the time the film ran for 15 minutes, there were only very few by standers watching the film. That includes me, but only for another 20 minutes.

You must have noticed my busabos look. Let me just explain.

Again the time frame of the subject is April 9, 2014 at 3:00PM. The hottest season of the year and time of the day. An hour before that, when I supposed to compose for my self for the event, I got a text message from my office mate that he could no longer attend the celebration, leaving me as the sole representative of our office. He has a fever. One reason that I have to get to the venue at 3:00PM was because we have to meet at a agreed time. When I got message, I decided that everything was on my discretion. I took a nap at 2:00 PM. I was surprised when I woke up at 3:30. I had no time to take a bath anymore.

I attended the ceremony on my own - with my busabos look and camera without anyone to take picture of me.

Anyways, the Malacanang invite never came.