'Manlambus: The Festival is Back

The town was known as Manlambus, a Visayan term meaning to strike with a club because its coastal waters were then abundant with fish, catching them could simply be done by using a club or lambus.

It is believed that Escalante was inhabited since 11^th A.D. per artifacts unearthed by Siliman University Anthropological Team in 1975-76. It was created a municipality on November 28, 1856 on orders of Gobernador Manuel Crespo, with Nueva Sevilla (now Old Poblacion) as the seat of government. In 1860, Fr. Cipriano Navarro, the first Spanish Missionary assigned to the place renamed it to Escalante, after his hometown in Spain.

Escalante was then a very big town with population bigger than that of Bacolod until 1939. However, Toboso, one of the biggest barangays of the town was separated from it in 1948 to be a Municipality by virtue of Executive Order No. 141 by President Elpidio Quirino decreasing its area and population.

The seat of the Municipal Government was transferred from Barangay Old Poblacion to Barangay Balintawak per Executive Order 301, dated May 30, 1958 by President Carlos P. Garcia.

Escalante was converted into a component city of Negros Occidental when its charter, R.A. 9014 was signed into law on February 28, 2001

by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which was subsequently ratified in a plebiscite on March 2001.

This progressive city is the home of Manlambus Festival every 30^th of May in celebration of its rich cultural heritage and glorious past that every Escalantehanon loves to share and tell.

Now on its 24th year, Manalambus Festival has metamorphosized into a celebration of life, showing thanksgiving of the Escalanatehanons for all the blessings of abundance it has received , recovering from a two year hiatus due to the pandemic which caused border closure and lockdown all over the world. The festival dance appeals to all ages, as movements are simple, easy and expressive. 

The performance  of seven clustered groups depicts three  phases such as the Manlambus , it is  the interaction  between the upland and coastal  inhabitants showing  the way they  live. The second part is the 'Lambus'  artistically acting as if striking a stick on a fish in dance movements. While the third phase would be an interpretation of merry making, thanksgiving showing a festive scene among the dancers with props improvised to show traditional fisher folk and farmers  implements matched with colorful non metallic and non-neon costumes. Participating Tribes were Lajambungan, Mapilipa, Malafenob, Aliwacer, Daang Lungsod, Magtam-blay, and Uswag. They were judged according to creativity of dance, choreography, costumes and props, endurance and discipline, as well as the festival princess, merry making and street performance.

The arena and street dance  only lasted for less than three  hours, but the community participation was evident in the way the festival was done spearheaded by the teachers of the Department of Education, chaired by no less than Dr. Glicerio Aligato and co-chaired by Myla Delos Santos and Jem Rymon Chien. The choreographers, costume designers, parents and classmates, the Kabalikat Civicom and Traffic Enforcers for proper peace and order, the city government employees, and of course my dear friend Dr. Vermont Juvahib for the Manlambus song that was used all day for the dance. Its good they had it recorder or he might have lost his voice in the end. Escalante Manlambus atong Kagikan...Dali nah Maghiliusa, Dali nahhhh Maglipay ta!