Los Baños kicks off Bañamos Festival tomorrow

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines – All is set for the holding of the weeklong Los Baños Bañamos Festival 2013 starting tomorrow.

The festival will be ushered in by the celebration of this town’s 398th Foundation Day tomorrow.

President Aquino has declared Sept. 17 as a special non-working holiday to give residents the opportunity to participate in the anniversary celebration.

Mayor Caesar Perez said the activities during the celebration include a trade fair, Bañamos sale, Himigsikan battle of the bands, LBirit singing contest, dance competition and street dancing, bloodletting, Palarong Pinoy, buko pie eating contest, Search for Miss Los Baños, and a thanksgiving Mass.

The festival showcases the history, cultural heritage, talents, products, and beauties of Los Baños, which has also been proclaimed as a “Special Science and Nature City.”

This year’s festival will be participated in by the municipal government and the barangays; the Los Baños Science Community (LBSC) composed of 23 international and national academic and research institutions based here, and the general public.

The festival, as conceptualized by the Los Baños Tourism Council in 2002, aims to promote the town’s tourism industry. Among other things, Los Baños has more than 40 resorts and spas that draw thousands of foreign and local tourists.

Bañamos is a Spanish term for “we bathe.” Historical records show that Franciscan friars, captivated by the hot springs in Mainit (which the small community was then known), set up public bathing places with spring water believed to be holy and have curative effects.

“These baths,” according to records, “convinced the Spanish authorities to officially establish in 1615 a town they called Los Baños or ‘the bath.’”

The town’s popularity was further boosted with the establishment of the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture in 1909.

The LBSC eventually evolved in the 1980s. Its current members are UP Los Baños; International Rice Research Institute; Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture; ASEAN Center for Biodiversity; bureaus of the departments of Science and Technology, Agriculture, and Environment and Natural Resources; fisheries schools, and foundations.