Glan is more than just SarBay Festival

Glan is more than a century old municipality in the province of Sarangani. It is geographically located in the southern tip of Mindanao and is bounded by three water bodies in Sarangani Bay, Davao Gulf and Celebes Sea. The land area of Glan is the largest among all localities in the province and at present it is inhabited by close to 140,000 people made up mainly of migrants from Luzon and Visayas and its Indigenous Cultural Community of B’laan tribe. Despite having huge potential for agri-industrialization given with its strategic location near General Santos City, local leaders of Glan opted to maintain the laidback environment of this municipality, employing agriculture, fishery and tourism as its priority programs in terms of economic development. 

Sarangani Bay Festival is the town’s flagship event in terms of tourism. The long beach line of Glan is blessed with fine white sand with incredible underwater biodiversity, prompting local authorities to consider it the Boracay of Mindanao. SarBay Fest was in hiatus for two years due to the pandemic, but this year they decided to consider a rebirth of the grandest beach festival in the country. I joined the celebration courtesy of an invitation from my good friend from San Miguel Brewery, Inc. Miss Meggy Santos together with other media friends from Davao Maya Padillo of Edge Davao, Mark Perandos of Sunstar Davao and Abraham Babao Mantawil of Davao Digital Influencers. Some blogger friends from General Santos were present also during the occasion particularly Avel (GenSan News Online), Mars (Planet Marz) and Ariel (Living in the South). San Miguel Brewery was co-presenter of an evening chill party on May 27 at Coco Beach that featured band performances, beer plaza and other entertainments.

This is my 4^th time attending the festival. The first three were all in grand and festive mode, obviously, because those were held prior to the pandemic. This year the crowd was controlled following COVID-19 protocols. As I looked at the schedule I noticed that organizers gave more weight to conservation activities which is commendable considering that Sarangani Bay is a protected seascape. 

The history of Glan is most notable as it hosts the finale of a circumferential voyage of a surviving crew of the group led by Ferdinand Magellan and Sebastian Elcano, better known as the Magellan-Elcano Expedition. When Magellan was killed during the Battle of Mactan, Elcano took over as the leader of the remaining Spaniards. On account of expedition chronicler Antonio Pigafetta who was on board the same ship with Elcano, it was October 26, 1521 when the expedition team reached the barrio of Batulaki after surviving a strong typhoon. They had to momentarily seek refuge in Batulaki for food and to wait for a strong typhoon to subside. Balutaki is a coastal barangay located at the edge of Glan.

In 2021, the National Historical Commission (NHC) erected a historical marker in a cliff of Batulaki overlooking the beautiful Celebes Sea. It is the 32^nd of the 34 quincentennial markers in the Philippines and an important piece which will remind people of the role of Glan to the Spanish circumnavigation of the world. The marker stood as one of Glan’s tourism attractions. 

Being the oldest town in Sarangani Province, there are numerous old houses and structures being preserved in Glan and we visited two of the most interesting places owned by the Ruiz Clan. Our first stop was the Ruiz Ancestral House located at the heart of Glan opposite the municipal hall building. The house was built in 1960s and now serves as podium of several memorabilia by the Ruiz family dating back the very first time their ancestors arrived in Glan all the way from Cebu. Mrs. Margarita Ruiz-Uy, the eldest of the third generation of Ruiz siblings, eagerly shared to us interesting information about how they preserve the house and made sure all keepsakes would be kept and showcased in such that the house is now being considered as a historical tour attraction in SocSarGen.

In the inscription The Pioneering of Spirits, the coming of Ruiz family in Glan started when their grandfather Tranquilino B. Ruiz of Alegria, Cebu was appointed by Governor Francis Burton Harrison as Superintendent of Agricultural Colony No. 9 in 1914, one of the Agricultural Colonies established in Mindanao through the Colonization Act of Don Sergio Osmeña, Sr., then Speaker of the House of Representatives. The first wave of Cebuano settlers came to Glan on October 8, 1914. The second batch arrived on March 10, 1915. They opened and tilled the fertile soil of Glan. Vast tracks of land were then planted to corn and coconut. And thus, “the interminable coconut fronds that line the vista of Glan is a story unto itself. It is a story of how a group of men and women of true grit and fortitude overcome a future fraught with peril and uncertainties.” 

Around 5 kilometers west of Poblacion is an old White House of the Ruiz family situated beside the National Highway. This is another structure pared by the Ruiz’s to conceal with an ancient theme, somehow a revelation of sort of the centennial existence of the clan. Here we were met and were given excellent coffee break by Doc Tranquilino Ruiz II, himself a very accommodating host who gave us so much wisdom and significant information about practically everything in Glan.

Unlike my previous experiences in Glan where hype was a usual thing, this year’s visit is a lot more fruitful for me because of the learnings and important information I gathered from Glan’s rich history and culture.