March 5-9
Bangkero Festival

Shooting the rapids of Pagsanjan is a major tourist attraction in the resort province of Laguna. In this annual festival, professional boatmen show off their skills in varied competitions organized by the local government. Boats are brightly spruced up especially for the occasion.

The boatmen of Pagsanjan are pulling together to give their town a brand new image. At the annual Bangkero River Festival, they brave the rapids in a competition to reach the majestic Pagsanjan falls.

The “Pagsanjan Bangkero Festival” is held every first week of March and it features exciting events on water and land like the “palarong bangkero” (fluvial parade and exhibitions), street dancing, drum and lyre band competition, choralefest, cultural night, trade fair, sports events, and the first ever Search for Lakan and Binibining Pagsanjan and Ginoong Pagsanjan Bangkero.

“The ‘Pagsanjan Bangkero Festival’ is inspired by and dedicated to all the bangkeros (boatmen) in Pagsanjan,” the energetic mayor said. These boatmen impress one with his skill and dexterity in maneuvering his boat upstream “against wild rapids and amids a pristine panorama of lush, virgin forest.”

These bangkeros “are natural navigators and tour guides as they safely steer the tourists’ bancas in an exhilarating, spine-tingling, adrenaline-pumping shooting the rapids experience and that is why I am inviting everyone to visit Pagsanjan this week, to celebrate and enjoy Pagsanjan’s best in this year’s Bangkero Festival.