21/06/2025
Why are small businesses being excluded from Sangyawan Festival?
This was supposed to be a festival for the people. A celebration of local talent, homegrown products, and the resilient entrepreneurial spirit of the community. But instead, small pop-up and mobile business owners—those who hustled day and night to bring something unique to the table—are being shut out. Haha. Y*wa.
Why?
We are the very heart of the local economy. Pero baga hira/kami hin naging outsider lugod hini. We are the sari-sari stores turned mobile cafés, the garage kitchens that became food carts, the artists, the crafters, the self-funded dreamers. Nalaban kami hin patas. We don’t have huge budgets or big names, but we have heart, we have grit, and we have something real to offer. For a 30 pesos ticket para makapwesto, my friends followed the rules. An iba nangagastusan pa pagkuha permiso. In our case we moved back to sell everything just to upgrade our mobile business all for this event. And now we are zero. Damn.
Removing small and mobile vendors from showcasing at Sangyawan isn’t just unfair—it’s a betrayal of what this festival is supposed to stand for. Ginpagbawal na ngan niyo an mga tent na bisan diri haglapad iyo yaknan na nakaulang ha dalan, why? So that my kapwa mobile business would leave if it rained? You're silencing the very voices the festival claims to uplift. It sends a clear message: that only those who can afford hefty fees or have the right “connections” are welcome.
We deserve a seat at the table. We deserve the same opportunity to grow, to be seen, to connect with our community. Isn’t that what festivals are about?
If Sangyawan wants to honor its promise of being by the people, for the people, then it needs to start acting like it.
Let us in. Bisan diri nala ha sulod. Metaphorical nala. We are not asking for charity—we are asking for fairness.
- 𝘿𝙅 𝙎𝙚𝙣𝙥𝙖𝙞
*FYI. Waray kami kadayun kay mag popop-up pala kami nakabalita na kami na pinapan ngiwas hira. See comments below follow nalang sila kun hain hira yana ngan please bisita kamo ha ira. Suporta kita kada tagsa.
