On February 1, 2024, the Bgy. Council of Manlag, through the support of the Heritage Tourism Division of the Municipal Tourism Office, finally launched the “Manla Festival” at Bgy. Manlag, El Nido, Palawan. But how significant is it for the people of Manlag?
Manla is the local name for a type of mud crayfish that thrives in the mangroves of Palawan. In fact, there is manla in all mangrove areas of El Nido. However, it was Manlag who was named after this species. The naming of the place is just the tip of the iceberg of knowledge on the rich eco-systems and culture revolving around manla.
During the cultural mapping in 2020, residents of Manlag laid out on a map the pieces of their culture and history such as prensa, an old version of flat iron, and sarading, a bamboo instrument used to trap crabs and manla. After coming up with their identity as a place and as a people, they chose manla as their destination symbol. While aiming to continue the tradition of fishing manla, the residents wanted it to become one of the tourists’ activities.
The residents went through the next step: turning the destination symbol into a festival. They participated in the three-day Festival Designing Workshop conducted by the Heritage Tourism Division in 2022. The participants were instructed that the name of the festival should be the image of their cultural identity. With this, they came up with the name “Manla Festival.” The purpose of the festival is to educate the residents about their cultural symbol and show the visitors the richness of the traditions of the place. The participants planned painting exhibit with diorama, Manla Cooking Contest, agri-trade fair, Cuyonon Night, float parade, livelihood trainings and jingle writing contest. During the launching, only the painting exhibit and the jingle writing contest were realized due to budget constraints.
The festival is just a prelude for the future tourism development. The next step for the barangay is to undergo the Tour Designing Workshop once offered by the Heritage Tourism Division. With the festival launched, they can now gradually advertise what they can give, that is, the “Manla Tours”. The details of these Manla Tours shall be discussed during tour designing workshop. The culture and history of Manlag shall be showcased, but certainly, tours shall include fishing and cooking manla.
Details about the launching of Manla festival can be read here >>> https://elnido.gov.ph/bgy-manlag-celebrates-its-1st-manla-festival/
El Nido Heritage 