Sorsogon holds crab fest

LET’S EAT. Crabs, camote and cassava ready for the townsflok’s boodle fight in Castilla, Sorsogon. RHAYDZ B. BARCIA

CASTILLA, Sorsogon --- A barangay in this town claiming to be the crab basket of Sorsogon last Saturday launched a two-day Kasag Festival.

Highlighting the two-day festivity was a 400-meter stretch of a boodle fight comprising of 300 kilos of cooked “kasag” (crabs) and other locally produced root crops such as camote, cassava, banana, mango, and gabi roots.

Alex Sotto, chief of Barangay Poblacion, who led the launching of the Kasag Festival said the event was aimed to create public awareness of the abundance of delicious crabs grown in the place as well as to attract visitors and potential investors to engage in the local crab industry.

Sotto said his barangay has great potential in producing crabs saying “our village alone is already producing 100 to 200 kilos of crabs a day making the village the ‘crab basket’ of the province.”

He said with improved crab production technology and setting of protocols he is hopeful that the production and harvesting would tremendously improve.

“Right now we are closely coordinating with the Department of Agriculture to assist us in the technical and operational aspect of how we could manage the full potential of the industry, ” he said.

Based on a study by an agriculturist who specializes on crab species, Sotto said the crab species that grow and being harvested in their place has a “unique” taste compared to other crabs grown in other towns in Sorsogon.

Sotto said the crabs’ species that grows in the town is unique in taste because the species are spawned and grown in the portion of the Sorsogon Bay where the sea and fresh water meet and mix, producing “extra sweet” delicious tastes.

He said he is working out with the Castilla local government to adopt their declared Kasag Festival as a town-wide annual event.

Sotto, a businessman and civic leader, said barangay poblacion has other growth potentials that include a seaport where regular commercial sea vessels from the Visayas and Mindanao dock, bringing cement and other products bound for other Bicol provinces, including the southern Tagalog region and Metro Manila.

Other events showcased in the festival were: a colorful street dance where participants were clad in costumes depicting the crab industry, floats, and trade exhibits.

The festival was held in observance of the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, the village’s patron saint.