Photo: The Beauty Of Maitum Town In Sarangani Province In Southern Philippines

Girls watch sunset as fishermen helped each other push a boat in Old Poblacion village, once Maitum town’s (in Sarangani province in Mindanao) hub of commerce with Cotabato City and General Santos City way back when the primary mode to transport farm products and merchandize is via the sea. Old Poblacion retained its name after the new Poblacion moved to its town site in what is now the village of Malalag. (Photo by Cocoy Sexcion)

Maitum Town To Launch Bangsi Festival In Mindanao

A Filipino woman, Nerissa Ovalo, 23, collects half-dried bangsi (flying fish) in the village of Old Poblacion in Maitum town in Sarangani province, which is celebrating its 2nd annual Bangsi Festival on January 30-31. Maitum’s is promoting its “One Town, One Product” – the marinated flying fish. (Photo by Cocoy Sexcion)

SARANGANI, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 27, 2009) – The town of Maitum in the southern Philippine province of Sarangani is all set for the launching of the two-day Bangsi Festival dubbed as “Sugba Sugba sa Dalan” on Saturday.

Local officials said some 1,000 kilograms of fresh flying fish popularly called Bangsi would be offered free to residents and grill (sugba) them in front of the town hall.

A Bangsi Cooking Contest would also be held in the town. Officials said Bangsi has come a long way to become Maitum's One Town One Product (OTOP) from decades of providing livelihood to coastal households.

Maitum’s number one value-added product, the marinated and half dried flying fish, is popular among the locals and visitors.

“Marinated bangsi alone, roughly its P10-million industry, includes processors in Old Poblacion," said Engr. Nenita Barroso, the Provincial Director of Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

“Other products were introduced last year,” she said, adding, entrepreneurs have also developed other value-added products such as bola-bola, tocino, siomai, rolls, chorizo, lumpia, embutido, burger patties and nuggets which are all made of bangsi.

“Packaging has improved from ordinary plastic pack into a branded and
labeled packaging,” Barroso noted.

Barroso said the DTI distributed a vacuum packing machine for some 125 households in Old Poblacion.

“Around a thousand households depend on bangsi industry, with average annual catch of more or less 600 tons,” said Beth Ramos, Palma Gil municipal information officer. (Serafin Ramos)

Gunmen Kill Southern Philippine Mayor

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (Juan Magtanggol / 11 Nov) - Motorcycle gunmen killed a town mayor in a daring broad daylight attack Saturday on the restive southern Philippine region, police and military said.

Mayor George Yabes, of Maitum town in Sarangani province, was shot at around 12.45 p.m. just in front of the family store, said a regional army commander Maj. Gen. Ernesto Boac.

"He was shot three times in the body with .45-caliber pistols. Initial military reports suggested the attack could be politically motivated," he told the Mindanao Examiner without elaborating.

Boac said troops were helping the local police force track down the assailants. "There is an ongoing manhunt. Police and military forces are tracking down the killers," he said.

Police said the gunmen escaped on board motorcycles after the shooting. The politician, police said, had escaped an assassination attempt by gunmen in May.

No group or individual claimed responsibility for the killing, but the province is also a known lair of Abu Sayyaf militants and communist insurgents blamed by authorities in previous attacks on government and military targets. (Mindanao Examiner)