HIGHLIGHTS AND SIDELIGHTS OF SANROKAN 2003
By Chu Mangoba
Photos by Mike Downer

 

I'm not sure if it is still a customary practice for Romblon villagers to hold a Pabaile or benefit dance to raise funds for community projects or for the celebration of a "Barrio Fiesta" or "Town Fiesta". Part of the fundraising practice is the auction sale of roasted chicken with a bottle of beer or a liter of coconut wine. The routine also includes a beauty contest (actually a money contest where a candidate has to sell tickets in order to win) to select the beauty queen to be paraded and crowned at the culmination of the civic festivity.

In keeping with the civic tradition of sharing RDL-CLEAR exported the spirit of sanrokan in America by holding Pabaile to raise funds for its proposed assistance projects for Romblon. It's getting high-class now because the pabaile (now called ballroom dancing) is with a dinner at a prestigious banquet hall in place of a public plaza or public market. It's also getting high-tech as modern disco sounds and lights are used instead of local band music and Petromax lights. Of course, some towns in Romblon have modernized their pabaile by using hi-tech sounds and lights too.

Guest list

For three consecutive years the dinner dance was attended by friends and supporters of sanrokan. We had our usual guests who had unusual kindness to share goodwill for the good of the Province of Romblon. Topping the guest list is the guest of honor, Ethel Fabonan-Gibson accompanied by her sister Edna who would surprise the hosts by her graceful dancing talent and inspire us of her speech entitled Imagination. Next to arrive as special guests were Mike "DaSpice" and Darlene "DaQueen" Downer with "DaStar" daughter Katrina. The total count of guests was 127 adults and 7 children.

Romblonese people are known for their hospitality and RDL women are known for being good hosts of the sanrokan dinner-dances. These women have no special dancing or singing talents but they worked hard in selling tickets to their friends and co-workers. They also worked hard in the banquet and program preparations.

The guests undoubtedly enjoyed the dinner, had lots of fun in dancing and an evening of entertainment. The guest of honor delivered an inspiring speech on how to make Romblon a world class tourist spot. The speech was published in the preceding issue of the Sanrokan News Magazine.

Elated by the success of the dinner-dance, the Chicago listers tendered a despedida to out of town guests the next day at the Fabicon residence in Elmhurst. Ethel and Edna had an early morning flight to Los Angeles so they missed the extended sharing of thoughts and anecdotes. One funny story was how Mike was able to attract school of fish to the shores of Tumingad (Darlene's native village south of Odiongan town) so fishermen were able to catch more fish when Mike was there. The group picture below shows happy faces despite lack of sleep the night before.

One of the discussions of the group was the venue of Sanrokan 2004. The brewing consensus is to hold the 2004 Sanrokan Convention in Los Angeles. Listers around the globe strongly favored the change of venue.

Another sidelight of the sanrokan was the passing of the hat for donations, a drive broached by Nic Musico who pledged $200. Other listers and non-listers followed suit and the latest count was 64 names in the donors' list generating a total amount of $3,700. The earnings from the dinner-dance was $900. The total net revenue from the dinner dance and donations is $4,600 which is sufficient to fund the Sanrokan 2003 projects, namely: Banton 2003, Tres Islas Medical Missions, Tree Planting, PETA Workshop in Odiongan, Writers' Workkshop and the Sanrokan News Magazine Publication.