Kali-Kalihan and DSB on MAG TV Na, Amiga! This Sunday By: James U. Sy Jr.

MAG TV Na, Amiga! will be featuring Don Salvador Benedicto (DSB) and its Kali-Kalihan Harvest Festival this coming February 21, 2010, 9:30 AM, over at ABS-CBN.

Don Salvador Benedicto (DSB), under its Mayor Hon. Lawrence Marxlen J. de la Cruz, celebrated its 29th Founding Anniversary and 20th Kali-Kalihan Harvest Festival last February 6-9. 2010. DSB is the youngest municipality in Negros Occidental, having been founded on February 9, 1983 by virtue of Batas Pambansa Bilang 336, authored by Pambansa Member Alfonso Garcia and Jose Varela, Jr. and by putting together two barangays from Murcia and Calatrava each and three barangays from San Carlos City under its jurisdiction. The town was named after the late Vice-Governor Salvador Benedicto, who was part in setting up the Revolutionary Government of Negros Island and Siquijor at the area during World War II.

The formation of the new town was prompted because the seven barangays were located at more remote areas and most times can’t be reached by governmental support. The town’s path to development was started by its first appointed Mayor, Hon. Nehemias “Nene” G. de la Cruz and continued by Hon. Ricardo T. Arnaldo, Jr., Cynthia “Bebing” J. de la Cruz, and presently, Hon. Lawrence Marxlen J. de la Cruz.

DSB is known for its Kali-Kalihan Harvest Festival, which was originally known as Halad “Offering,” a celebration and thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest. The festival has adopted Eskrima “Fencing,” or more popularly known as Kali in the USA, as its cultural heritage. The Kali-Kalihan Harvest Festival had been successful in attracting tourists to the town, which is also known as the summer capital of the Philippines because of its cold climate.

MAG TV Na!, started in 2008, is the brand of regional talk/magazine show of the various ABS-CBN Regional Network Group stations in the Philippines. MAG TV Na, Amiga! is the version designed and broadcasted by the Western Visayas Regional Network Group.

MAG TV Na, Amiga! will also be including a segment on Arnis as a sport with guests Negros martial arts researcher/historian/writer James U. Sy Jr., Lafayette A. Diamante, RN, and Lorema “Bing” H. Tacsagon of the Conceptual Martial Arts Society (CMAS), Inc. and Grandmaster Benefredo “Bebing: M. Lobrido, 1st Generation Inheritor of the indigenous Negresanon/Bagueño long stick fighting art of Original Filipino Tapado and President of the Original Filipino Tapado Long Stick Fighting Association (OFTLSFA), inc.