Behind the green logo ~ D' Durian Daily

I ♥ Kadayawan.

It's the time of the year that not only the Lumads make their way to the city as honorees of the entire celebration but the durian (and the other fruits) come rolling down to the fruit stands and streets corners and sold at an unbelievably cheap price. The harvest is dependent on the weather of course, but more often, August is when the fruit trees are so generous with their yield.

If you must know the Kadayawan Festival was created to be celebrated in August because it's the time of the year when the fruits are in abundance, the flowers are in full bloom and the magnificent Mt. Apo, the country's tallest peak, can be viewed at its clearest.

While the rest of the Philippines start donning their festive mood on first day of the Ber months to usher in the Yuletide season, the Dabawenyos get to wear it a month earlier on the Kadayawan . Consider it as a prelude to the country's Christmas season (the longest in the globe). So it's safe to say that it is "merrier" in Davao.

Now there is this fuss about the new logo of the Kadayawan Festival in Facebook where people got to air out their opinions. From the festive look and "tribal font" of the previous logo, it was changed to a monotone green, block style font. It was not received well by most.

The new logo:

Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte on Monday insisted that the green Kadayawan logo has no political color. Green is the mayor's campaign color in May 2010 elections.

There is no single trace of festivity.

Design is more corporate in look.

But of course, we all could be wrong. Maybe this IS the NEW CORPORATE LOGO of the KADAYAWAN FOUNDATION and not the festival logo.

If so, what happened to the Kadayawan Foundation? Abolished?

Apparently, DUAW Davao Foundation, from the private sector, is handling the festival with the support of the Davao City government. I am praying this is foundation currently working under the Kadayawan Foundation. Pretty much like the DUAW Davao Foundation FOR the Kadayawan Foundation, like an artist hired to design for the label.

So if they decide not to run the festival, another private local group can bid for the seat- under the strict guidelines of the foundation and the government , of course. Transparency will deter the groups who eye personal gain.

And now we come to the proud and fearless tagline, "The King of Festivals". Gender sensitivity is not the issue. I only have questions.

Can Kadayawan, a festival lot younger than the Sinulog of Cebu and MassKara of Negros of Bacolod, both first celebrated in 1980, really claim this title?

If not age, at least in fame and attendance?

How come these two renowned festivals don't have titles tagged to their festival names?

Do we have a problem with humility?

I am a believer of "aiming high", but can we please wait until we get to the top?

Just like a student burying himself in books to be magna cum laude, it's the university who awards him the title because he earned it.

Davao cannot look like a fool flaunting a title it cannot live up to. Well, Christopher Lao is another story, he excelled in theory but proved himself otherwise in practice (in that instance that earned him notoriety).

The previous logo:

And so I got to chat with Lissette Marques, the Festival Director over this matter.

She said that long before any of their names were identified with the 2011 Kadayawan Festival, the city has already conceived a master plan that centers on eco-tourism, and the Kadayawan is just one of the components of the big picture. This may explain why the logo is in green.

Thought bubble 1: If I remember it right, the City commissioned a non-Davao company to create a campaign branding Davao as the Eco-Tourism destination of the Philippines ("eco.city"- thanks DOT RD-XI Art Boncato). The campaign made the previous main title of "From Islands to Highlands" a tag-line. After presenting it to the media and various groups, the campaign did not take off. It still makes me wonder why they didn't hold a competition open to Dabawenyos, after all, who knows Davao best but a Dabawenyo? Just like how the PTA grounds got renamed People's Park. That was a wise move.

Thought bubble 2: Maybe the greening of the Kadayawan is part of the whole master plan. Or maybe they did not scrap the campaign but went the other way around- green the Kadayawan as primer to a bigger greening of Davao since they already have paid the company. My thoughts sound like a conspiracy theory.

What Lisette Marques was saying was, all these- the logo, color, tagline, branding- were already arranged by the city and all she had to do was step in the office and run it. As to why and how these changes came about, she is not the best person to ask.

I still ♥ Kadayawan.

Even with additional drama and intrigue flavoring, I know it will be another successful festivity for Davao. All the colors we're looking for will be all around the city and the fun fare will be undiminished.

The success of the Kadayawan is really up to us, how we perceive it and how we take part in it.

Just a plea (s):

Please make the above green logo a representation of the foundation and not the festivity.

Maybe we can do away with the royal label as well?

But if you're so attached to it, then may I suggest you add (The) Mindanao (King of Festivals). Now, we can back up this claim!

Better yet, how about making "Kadayawan" generic and attaching tag liners to best fit accompanying photo or text? e.g. "Kadayawan, A festival of harvest", "Kadayawan, The Celebration of Tribes", "Kadayawan, Davao in full bloom", etc., then attach a photo and short text below? The series may just prove exciting and attract different sectors in love with fiestas, fruits or flowers?

One last thing. I am so in love with the Davao ads released in the national paper. Beautiful! I love the TEN TRIBES, ONE VIBE tag liner! Congratulations!

But maybe we can add a little colors of festivity in these?