Another art installation to rise in Paoay sand dunes

By Leilanie G. Adriano

Staff Reporter

CONTINUING its tourism buildup, the Ilocos Norte government is set to put up another art installation in the sprawling sand dunes in Paoay, Ilocos Norte to attract more tourists this northern Philippine province.

For this year, a festival of neon lights assembled like the façade of the St. Augustine Church will serve as the centerpiece event of the La Milagrosa Festival this May.

Now on its third year, the La Milagrosa Festival was initiated under the administration of Ilocos Norte Governor Ma. Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos in honor of La Virgen Milagrosa, the province’s patron saint.

The weeklong festival will kick off on May 1 with the launching of the Paseo de Paoay, a new multi-purpose commercial building designed by Palafox Associates, headed by Felino “Jun” A. Palafox, a prominent Filipino architect and urban planner from Ilocos Norte, whom the provincial government commissioned to prepare Ilocos Norte’s master plan for tourism development.

Popular sculptor Leeroy New is also in the province to personally supervise the installation of the project expected to be ready by May 10 for the culmination program at the Paoay sand dunes dubbed as “Himala sa Buhangin.”

“Himala sa Buhangin” features a fun-filled bicycle tour and Sirib trade fair during the day and ends with a bombastic night concert and party the Ilocano way.

In May 2012, New’s first art installation in the province made of indigenous materials such as bamboo, abaca rope, inabel cloth and local textile wowed visiting tourists as it served as a lookout tower for tourists visiting the sand dunes which have become a favorite spot for sand boarders and extreme sports enthusiasts.

During the opening of the festival, the arrival of La Virgen Milagrosa was reenacted, showing how the image of the Virgin Mary was found in a box washed ashore 400 years ago.

This year, a pilgrimage at the newly-constructed La Virgen Milagrosa Chapel in Badoc, Ilocos Norte and a grand procession and sagala also highlight this May festival.

Unveiled as a national geological monument at Barangay Calayab, Laoag City on November 26, 1993 through a presidential proclamation, the Ilocos Norte sand dunes are low lying elongated hills in a narrow zone that extends to about 40 kilometers from the Currimao coastline in the south to the coastal town of Pasuquin in the north.

To date, at least 720 hectares of the Ilocos Norte sand dunes is being applied for by the provincial government as a proposed site for multi-ecotourism development and golf course, pending further study and assessment by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

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