A GRAND production worthy of a Cecil B. DeMille, reduced to a municipal stage.
That was the Miss Mabalacat City 2012 pageant at Xevera last week.
DeMille who? Oh, he was merely Hollywood’s master craftsman of grand spectacles as Cleopatra, the Oscar-winning The Greatest Show on Earth, Samson and Delilah, and The Ten Commandments, which parting-of-the-Red- Sea scene was for decades the supreme achievement in special effects.
Yeah, as I was saying, the sheer grandeur of Miss Mabalacat City 2012 totally eclipsed all other beauty pageants at the regional level.
Mayhaps, in some ways, even excelled the nationwide quests for Miss, Binibini, and Mutya. And that’s neither idle nor ingratiating hype.
What with the wonders of technology – giant LED screens with animated graphics and videos, finding fusion with innate creativity – the imposing façade of the soon-to-be Mabalacat City Hall serving as magnificent backdrop to the stage where the town’s fairest ramped, the local talents performed, and the best of local culture presented itself.
Good to be reassured that my appreciation of beauty has not waned any with my personal bet – Toni Rose T. Reyes of Barangay Poblacion , earlier adjudged Miss Photogenic, winning the coveted crown.
This is in no way any denigration of the 16 other candidates though, starting with the runners-up: Charmaine Ann Guintu, 1st; Jessica Brian Bacani, 2nd; Joan Leslie Manalili, 3rd; and Myrin Medina, 4th .
Amid all that display of pulchritude still finding high definition of their own were images of Caragan, the town’s signature festival taking after the name of its Aeta king, as well as its lasting tribal heritage.
Enough to serve as preview to an even grander celebration of the town’s tercentenary.
Grandest ever, as promised, in a year-long showcase of the best and the brightest in Mabalacat through cultural presentations, parades, talent shows, sporting events, art and photo exhibitions, and book launches.
My, even a revision of the curriculum in the local schools’ history subjects is in the works.
Let it be emphasized here: No, Mabalacat history did not start – and will not end – with Mayor Marino Morales.
Why?
Because there’s simply no end to Mayor Boking. Ha, ha, ha. Pop the corn there.
No joke though but the real deal in this full flowering of culture, in this renaissance in Mabalacat, is June Magbalot. And no other coming any closer.
The culturati in Magbalot holds a singular vision for Mabalacat as a center of culture and the arts.
The impresario in Magbalot brings that vision into being through stage productions, pageants, and festivals. The performers talent-spotted and trained by Magbalot himself.
A “gemologist” I once wrote of Magbalot for his penchant to find the rawest materials and cut them into precious jewels as beauty queens.
“I am not the one to be praised.” Self-effacing as always, Magbalot would rather give the credit for every successful production “to the many others who made it possible.” With Mayor Boking, first and foremost.
As much for loyalty as for gratitude.
It was in the early 1990s that Magbalot joined the then political upstart, first as a cook – in appreciation of his culinary skills, then as a general factotum multi-tasked menially – posting and distributing campaign materials, coordinating political rallies, pasting tally boards, serving snacks at the campaign headquarters, etcetera.
It did not take long before Magbalot’s multi-faceted talents became most manifest that Mayor Boking found ill-afford to let to waste. And the rest, as clichéd, is history.
Yeah, Magbalot provides much zing to the ever-lasting Boking.
