Pista’y Dayat is Paco Duque’s legacy to Pangasinan

By Restituto C. Basa

Source:
May 3-9, 2005

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COME May 1, the Pangasinan towns along the Lingayen Gulf will celebrate Pista’y Dayat, rather than Labor Day.

Pista’y Dayat started a simple fishermen’s thanksgiving mass along the beach in Barangay Pangapisan in Lingayen. The fisherfolk of Pangasinan held it every May 1, since ancient times. It is older than Labor Day.

In 1964, the governor of Pangasinan was Dr. Francisco Quimson Duque, Jr. The tourist trade was in its infancy. Governor Duque conceived the idea of making the Lingayen Gulf a tourist attraction.

He conceived the Pista’y Dayat. He based it on an ancient tradition of the fishermen of Pangapisan, Lingayen who held a thanksgiving mass at the beach every first day of May.

I was a member of Governor Duque’s staff at the time. By that time, I had already several years experience as a newspaperman, although I held the position of Assistant Chief of Administration Division in the Office of the Governor.

Three months before the festival, we sent invitations to natives of Lingayen, who were residing in Metro Manila, Baguio and other parts of the country to visit their hometown on May 1 to join the first Pista’y Dayat. We publicized it in both the national and local media.

The response was very encouraging. They visited their old hometown by the families.

On May 1, 1964, the Lingayen beach was crowded with people. Every family brought its own food and had a picnic at the beach. The mood was festive.

There was a simple program which opened with a thanksgiving mass officiated by the parish priest of Lingayen. The town mayor delivered a welcome speech and the governor expressed joy for seeing old friends come to join the festival.

Mayor Liberato Ll Reyna of Dagupan City noticed the huge success of the Lingayen Pista’y Dayat. The following year, Dagupan also held its own version at the Bonuan beach. In the course of time, the other towns along the Lingayen Gulf joined the festival.

People from the landlocked provinces like Tarlac and Nueva Ecija now come by chartered buses to take a dip in the gulf.

What makes the sea so attractive to tourists is the belief that the salty water of the sea is medicinal.

Pista’y Dayat has become an established tradition.

Duque was governor from 1964 up to 1967. Before that, he was secretary of health for two years in the Diosdado Macapagal cabinet. He conceived of the Medicare to provide medical care to indigents. His son, Dr. Francisco Tiongson Duque III was appointed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as head of the Philippine Health Care Commission, formerly Medicare, and he is now holding the position of the Secretary of Health.

In Dagupan City, under Mayor Benjamin Saplan Lim, the Pista’y Dayat has become bangus festival. It promotes the native bangus industry, which is the backbone of the local economy.