Hernandez, Charlotte V.

December 12, 2014

Philippine Cultural Shift in the 21st Century: An Exploration on Contemporary

Fiestas
Art evokes sense of exclusivity, often times the by-product of creative
sophistication. With differing functions and perceptions, everything considered art is
unified through the spectators eyes. Guided by the principles of refinement and power,
art systematically surfaces three tenets to consider: the work itself, agents responsible
for it, and functions it serves for (Verstegen, 2013).
Zooming in to the context of art in the Philippines, the blurring lines of how art
becomes Philippine art exist as the blending of influences from varied nations
perpetuate. In exploring art, it is but essential to examine the countrys culture first.
Considered as the melting pot of Asia, the current construct of Philippine culture can be
analyzed in terms of historical exploration, entailing the need to unfold the scheme of its
colonial past. The entry of foreign culture structured the syncretic identity of Philippine
culture, and was grounded on the fusion of folk and foreign traditions (Fajardo, 1995).
Drawn from syncretic culture, Philippine Culture then becomes entangled with issues of
tracking unique elements to distinguish its own art identity among other nations.
However, in the 21st century, the problem of tracing locality amidst global diversity
intensifies as the universal element of technology penetrated in contemporary lifestyle.
Facing the issue of post-colonial Philippines and the growing trend of technology,
this paper intends to determine the elements embedded in the present-day Philippine
Art through the exploration of Filipino Festivals in the 21 st century. Focusing on a single
event, the fusion of urbanity and rurality found in Philippine International Hot Air Balloon
Fiesta (PIHABF) held every 15th to 19th of February in Clark, Pampanga shall be
subjected as the focal topic of research. Sponsored by different corporations, this
annual showcase of aviation events aims to transcend the unique spirit of fiesta in the
global community.

Fiestas in the 21st century

Launching a deep-seated cultural event out of foreign elements, the presence of
this event unveils a post-colonial perspective on how contemporary festivities are
conducted in the country today. Traditionally, fiestas have deep attachment to peoples
religious beliefs as they are created and celebrated to honor and give praise to
particular gods and goddesses. However, the coming of the Spaniards tremendously
changed this system as the imposition of new religion has been done. As revealed by
Reinbard Wendt (1998), the sole purpose of conducting festivals rooted from the mid17th century lies on the promotion of impressive image of the grandeur and splendor of
Catholic Church. This study has been supported by Fernandez (1988) as she argued
that as the Hispanic colonizers left the Philippines, a new found trend was observed:
fiestas continued to flourish; however, the pre-hispanic pagan Filipino culture and the
belief in miracles of saints co-existed as people retained the folk season of thanksgiving
albeit dedicated to Western saints.
In the present days, only some of these festivities continued to exist as the trend
of contemporary era changes. The reason behind the decline of these festivities may be
rooted from the concept of imagined communities pioneered by Benedict Anderson
(1983) where community goes beyond physical location. As a socially constructed
community, sense of nationalism is measured through the degree of belongingness an
individual feel towards the group. Hence, when individuals lost its sense of connection
towards the group, the loss of communal sense entails the demise of culture within
particular community. Moreover, in the current epoch, contemporary fiesta projects an
image of the synthesis of ethnic and foreign culture as its celebrations are now held to
honor politicians, craft fairs, and tourism-directed events (Fernandez, 1988). Building
the trend of contemporary popular culture, she added that the post colonial traces of
American civilization left a strong impact to contemporary popular culture as it has used
a powerful element: technology.

American Influences of PIHABF

Up until today, the manifestation of its American influences is reflected upon the
lifestyle that the inhabitants follow. Offering a laidback lifestyle, Clark has been known
to be an outlet of stress to people coming from Manila for its physical proximity to the
nightlife capital of the Philippines, Angeles City (Leisure lifestyle in the Philippines,
2014). Roaming through the city, a civilized society can be found in the existence of
Clark International Airport entailing the presence of international shops like Duty Free,
fine dining restaurants, bars, and golf courses lining along the streets, flaunting its
cosmopolitan nature.
Recognizing the fact that the concept of hot air balloons is foreign to our folklore,
it is but essential to track its origin and possibly link it to the neocolonial Clark,
Pampanga. European Montgolfier brothers were known to be the first makers of hot air
balloon crafted out of paper and silk. Week after, American physicists Jacques
Alexander Charles and Nicholas Louis Robert officially launched the first gas balloon in
Paris, France. Since then, gas balloons have been the preferred mode of air travel.
Perceived to be an essential transport tool, Americans have adopted the concept of gas
balloons in making the very first military airship. Preserved through time, the rationale
behind hot air balloons in America evolved to a sports event, making the first National
Hot Air Balloon Championship in Kalamazoo, Michigan. (National Balloon Museum,
2011)
Patterned from foreign hot air balloon jamborees, the organizers of PIHABF
launched the very first event in the Philippines that highlights hot air balloons as its
centerpiece. According to the organizers, the creation of this festival is anchored upon
its vision to offer an opportunity to share and exchange cultures and traditions with
visiting pilots all over the world (Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta
Foundation, 2014). Branded as festival, PIHABF organizers intend to imbibe Filipino
culture through the spirit of fiesta celebration. Levin (1981) argued that festivals
generate the notion of holiday-in-the-mind. Offering vibes of relaxation, the branding of
PIHABF as fiesta aided in augmenting its hype towards the target audience. Viewing
this phenomenon in a theoretical perspective, Rushdie (2000) affirmed that in

contemporary era, the process of achieving the fantasy of being away necessitates the
lens of cosmopolitanism. However, the prevailing cosmopolitan ideology that areas
cultural outlook goes beyond any free-floating culture or political choice must be noted.
It is the institution itself that builds cosmopolitan cities (Calhoun, 2008). Responsible for
launching cultural events, generating policies, constructing institutions for its
maintenance, government plays huge role in building the societys established trend.
Economy: Blueprint of Contemporary Philippine Culture
In Philippines current state, globalization has been given an utmost priority in
order to align with the present economic global trend. This domination in economic
relations leads modern globalization to be affecting politics, society, and eventually,
culture. Evidently penetrating in todays popular culture, the potential that the growth of
this cultural trend to increase in the coming years is directly related to the continuous
competitive technological innovations that shape peoples lifestyle. With the increasing
demand for economic increment, Ghosh (2006) noted that modern globalization is a
neo-liberal trend that is not based on any normative or moral culture. As the economic
competition globally heightens, the impact of dominant capitalist globalization intensifies
as well.
This economic competition can directly be felt through the efforts of the
government in directly handling possible areas of development, leading to the creation
of Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA). Branched under the Office of
the President, BCDA administers the free ports and economic zones in the Philippines
to sustain the socio-economic progress of the country (Bases Conversion and
Development Authority, 2009). Utilizing 26,000-hectare land, Clark Economic Zone, the
actual site of PIHABF, has been filled with corporations leaning to logistics, agroindustrial development, manufacturing, and of course, tourism.
Digging into the historical roots of this economic zone, Clark used to be the
largest US military airbase that was surrounded by unoccupied fields and jungles. In
fact, 30,000 military and civilian people were roughly estimated to be occupying Clark
when the base was still active. However, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1992 forced the

closure of the airbase, completely devastating Clark physically and economically. The
departure of US Air Force triggered the turn-over of the air base to the Philippine
Government, leaving the government with a huge contusion as businesses around the
area got lesser each day. Hence, directly affecting the Philippine Government,
tremendous efforts were made to re-ignite the economic contribution of Clark to the
governmentfinally reaching the point of space re-invention.
As the need to generate income escalated, policy makers opted to reinvent the
lingering empty space devastated by the eruption. At this point, the fact that innovation
is a prerequisite to space re-invention must be established. Such innovation, as argued
by Lundvall (1992), is a basic interactive learning process, having been socially and
territorially embedded, and culturally and institutionally contextualized. Needing to
survive the globalist economy, space- re-invention takes place so as to increase the
income of the place. In the case of Clark, Pampanga, the closure of the airbase meant
to be the end of businesses around the area generating huge amount of income,
directly impacting the Philippine economy. In the contemporary economic trend of
globalism, Hall (2011) noted that regional areas were forced to increase the
sophistication of strategic place and marketing through changing the trend of tourismic
demand and activities to generate new types of attractions. Aligning to the reason
behind the re-invention of Clark, tourism was observed to consume tourists destinations
as comprehensive experiences (Buhali, n.d.). These tourismic experiences were
highly expected to escalate the citys income generation.
Generating the much needed foreign exchange, tourism, recognized as the new
force of politics, has been the focal concern of contemporary policy makers as it offers
elastic and attractive means to achieve economic goals (Richter, 1980). Interestingly
enough, the pioneer organizers of this event admitted that the primary goal of PIHABF
is to jumpstart the local economy and uplift the spirit of Central Luzon after Mt.
Pinatubos eruption. Targeted to increase the global tourist hype, Hughes (2000) argued
that tourism, as an industry, becomes an avenue for commercial activity. Such
development of tourism industry has been unveiled by Carona (2005) to be a postcolonial strategy for fostering growth in economy.

True enough, opening its port globally, Clark aimed to become the hub for
business, aviation, and tourism in the Philippines given that it has been known to
become a natural entry point to the Asia Pacific Region (Clark Freeport Philippines,
2014). Apparent in its flourishing state of becoming a developed city enveloped in a
countryside, Clark proved to pursue its cosmopolitan and economic endeavor as it
transpire to be a vehicle of growing interconnection within the world.
Space: Site of Stratified Power
Exploring the space where this fiesta occurs, this analysis will be grounding its
claim on Nigel Thrifts study (1996) where space has been unveiled to be a site where
forms of identification and alienation are performed leading to the production of social
and power relations that are later revealed, reproduced, and maintained. Grounding on
this claim, the use of space in this context transcends its physical outlook. In PIHABF,
all the participantsfrom audience to contestants and organizersshare the same
physical space; however, the extent to which these participants may actually be has
been bounded by a system that has permeated the creation of social, political, and
economic distance among the participants.
Space is fundamental in any exercise of power (Foucault, 1994). Reflecting upon
the ticket prices, only those who can afford to purchase VIP tickets and balloon ride
tickets are guaranteed the chance to meet the flyers of the balloon face to face, ride
these hot air balloons as well. Otherwise, acquiring solely an entrance ticket allows an
individual to be spectators of art. In this sense, cultural space is anchored upon its
economic space. Viewing such case through the lens of new-urban perspective, the
strategy used by the organizers of this event is to sell the cultural experience. Then and
there, the act of selling cultural experience paves way to highlight the prominence of
organizers motive that is directed towards international tourism where economic market
depends heavily on culture (Wood, 1980).
The structured set of social agents acting upon the event is inseparable from the
space of artistic positions that is defined by possession of specific recognizable capital
(Bourdieu, 1993). In the field of PIHABFs cultural production, three major actors have

been identified: the organizers, participants, and the audience. Organizers hold a
relatively huge amount of power as they acquire the capacity to launch the actual
festivity or not. Imposing the feisty vibe of such cultural event, the organizers act as the
authority shaping spatial and social position of both the participants and the audience.
Participants, on one hand, have been guaranteed a premium position in the showcase
of spectacle. Controlling the movement of art, the actual duty of securing both the
cultural and economic purpose of the event lies on the hands of the participants.
However, compared to the power of organizers, participants receive lesser degree of
power as the acquirement of participants cultural power lies on the political power held
by the organizers. Examining the most passive actor, audience is perceived to be the
patrons of art. Sustaining the recurrence of PIHABF, the audience funds the fiesta
economically, eventually becoming the judges who distinguish the art enveloped in the
event.
Dissecting the audience further, economic capital has been the sole source of
distance permeating the existence of social divide. Occupying the same area but never
the same space, this audience becomes the patrons of art with varying degrees. Having
enough means (i.e. both economic and social positions) to purchase VIP tickets, these
special guests are entitled to special treatment as they acquire priority entrance,
occupy an air-conditioned tent, and get to enjoy whole day buffet specially prepared by
the organizers (Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta Foundation, 2014). Going
beyond the process of mere spectatorship, those VIP patrons who can afford to
purchase balloon ride ticket that costs around 12,500PhP get the chance to experience
the art itself. Procured prior to the actual event, these ride tickets are sold only for
limited time. These special audiences heighten their awareness to the event wanting to
achieve either escapism or boredom in other aspects of life (Cooper & Tower, 1992).
Lying on the other end of the spectrum, the typical goers to the event enter the space of
power with an economic foundation of three hundred pesos (300PhP). Realizing its
cost, the probability that these spectators came from the middle class is high, as it has
gone beyond the standard income of the masses. According to Harland, Kinder, Hartley,
and Wilkin (1996), the focal intention on the association of arts to middle class lies on
the increment to their social status as an exchange to their involvement in art.

Supporting this study, Howard Hughes (2000), in his book Arts, Entertainment, and
Tourism, defined social status to be determined through the economic purchase of an
individual. Hence, as the number of typical goers outnumber the quantity of special
guests in the said fiesta, the assumption that middle class utilizes the prestige of an
exclusive art as the medium to express his/her social standing becomes valid in the
context of PIHABF.
So long as art is commodified, the notion of art exclusivity will perpetually exist as
the delimitation to its access persist. Art, as source of refinement, projects perception of
cultural power that is anchored upon the degree of individuals knowledge. Let us admit
the fact in a capitalist society, only those who can afford education gets the access to
culture. However, having the access to culture does not necessarily entail experience
and appreciation. Those who have relatively higher degree of understanding to art get
to experience and appreciate the art more than the other, unleashing a stratified power
relations in the exploration of art perception.
Philippine Art in the Age of Global Integration
PIHABF revealed the interplay of foreign elements to be the source of power
projected in Philippine Art. As unveiled by Caronan (2005), the continuing hegemony of
the United States extends until the 21st century. In terms of cultural production, Filipinos
tend to favor products from the West as it evokes the perception of a more advanced
culture; therefore, entailing higher degree of power projection. However, the prominence
of these foreign elements does not directly kill the local culture of the Philippines. In the
Age of Global Integration, a remarkable shift in the cultural change now inclined to
international relations must be regarded as a product of societal trend, highly influenced
by policies and continued patronage of inhabitants themselves.
As argued by Alfredo Roces (1961), Filipinism found in art materializes only as
the by-product of art; makers of art do not have to deliberately concern themselves with
its nationalistic projection. This nationalistic viewpoint, as explored by Gellner (qtd. in
Bhaba, 1990) explained that the cultural shreds and patches used by nationalism
anchored to folklore are often arbitrary historical inventions. Hence, delimiting the notion

of Philippine Art in folkloric lens forbid the analysis of present contemporary trend:
cultural hybridity.
Living in the period of globalization, cultural hybridity must be taken into
consideration when deciding whether one is to be considered Philippine Art or not. The
post-colonial Philippines tremendously changed the notion of art, as syncretic identity
was conceived. This syncretic identity later forced the creation of cosmopolitan cities to
align with the global hype. In line with the contemporary trend, the researcher argues
that so long as art has been beneficial by any means to the country and its people, the
limits of Philippine in the term Philippine Art transcends the bounds of the questions
where the art has been produced and who produced the art. Aligned to Tiongsons
study (1983), the Philippine-ness of art lies heavily on its contribution to Filipino nation.
As seen in the present day, Philippine Art utilizes the trend in global Culture to sustain
the local living. This alignment of Philippines to the global trendencapsulating issues
of syncretism and hybriditydoes not diffuse the notion of Philippine Art; instead,
Philippine Art in the 21st century proved to be one compact product of cultural change.
With the coming of ASEAN Integration in 2015, Philippines would soon be fully
embracing the cultural trend of hybridity. After all, cultural change is essential to Cultural
progress.

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