Festivals in San Mateo, Isabela

By Kimsun P. Realin

NGEC 5 - BSMT 1A

Balatong Festival

San Mateo, Isabela - The town of San Mateo is preparing and dancing for their celebration in Munggo o Balatong Festival.

Apart from coffee made from Munggo beans from the town of San Mateo, it now has a variety of dishes such as Pansit munggo, Canton munggo, Icecream munggo and cerelac munggo that are fed to children.

Apart from this, they will be able to see the various activities and contests they will be holding at the festival and they will also be able to see their various varieties of legumes that are being imported by other provinces.

Bambanti Festival

Bambanti is an Ilocano word for the scarecrow. 

The Bambanti, first imagined to ignite the premier Isabela Festival torch in 1997 by Former Governor Benjamin Dy and his wife Cecil, is a proud symbol for the Isabela farmer’s diligence and resoluteness to earn his keep, feed his family and produce for his community. It is a reminder of his enduring spirit the kind that is relentless amid the harshness of storms that often visit his province  and his creativity in his continuing vigilance to safeguard his treasure and the promises it holds.