Marikina holds Ka-Angkan Festival 2012

MANILA, Philippines - To celebrate its 382nd founding anniversary, Marikina City is holding its annual Ka-Angkan Festival, officials said yesterday.

The weeklong celebration will start today with a thanksgiving Mass at the Marikina Freedom Park while the official opening event, the Ka-Angkan exhibit, will be held at the city hall quadrangle. The festival brings together past and present generations of Marikeños to be acquainted with their fellow clan members.

“We’ll be commemorating the founding of Marikina with the Ka-Angkan Festival as one of its highlights,” Mayor Del de Guzman said.

Initiated in 1998 by then mayor Bayani Fernando, the Ka-Angkan Festival is a virtual family reunion of Marikeños from all over the country and abroad. The event gathers Marikeños and gives them an opportunity to get to know their clan members. It aims to give importance to family and tradition, a core value of being Filipino.

The success of a city can be gauged in many ways, but for Marikina, the love of Marikeños for their city is enough to give one an idea of how successful it is, officials said.

“The Ka-Angkan Festival is our way of embracing our past and appreciating our present. Looking back at our past gives us an idea on where we should go in the future,” De Guzman said.