WATTAH WATTAH WILL NO LONGER BE A CITY-WIDE FESTIVAL

(SPOT.ph) One chaotic festival and many angry reacts on social media later, the government of San Juan will no longer hold a city-wide Wattah Wattah Festival following a series of unruly incidents on June 24, one of which included a single mother who allegedly lost a job opportunity after her original documents were doused in water.

Starting next year, San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora said there will be a designated "Basaan Zone" where consenting residents can still partake in Wattah Wattah Festival.

"I take full responsibility dito sa naganap na panggugulo noong kapistahan ni San Juan Bautista. Starting next year and in our succeeding fiesta celebrations, San Juan will designate a specific area or ‘Basaan Zone’ where residents can practice the traditional water dousing activities of the ‘Wattah, Wattah’ festival. We will do better," Zamora said in a Facebook post.

Six people are now facing various complaints over incidents during the Wattah Wattah Festival. On July 1, Zamora also personally accompanied a delivery rider to the City Prosecutor's Office to file cases of unjust vexation, malicious mischief, and slander against a suspect, with evidence captured on CCTV.

Also read: Unruly Wattah Wattah Festival Celebrants Will Face Consequences, Says San Juan Gov’t

San Juan City’s solution to Wattah Wattah Festival

The Wattah Wattah Festival has been a long-standing tradition in San Juan every June 24 in honor of St. John the Baptist. Participants engage in water dousing, which is meant to symbolize baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.

However, as we know now, the festival has gotten quite a bad rap over the years, with reports of unruly participants using dirty water and engaging in physical altercations with unwilling passersby. One was even charged with physical injury for allegedly throwing muriatic acid at an unsuspecting resident of San Juan.

Such conduct during the celebration has been a recurring issue, with previous administrations finding ways to mitigate the problem through ordinances and fines to no avail. 

"The people of San Juan will not lie: alam nating lahat na dati ng nangyayari noong panahon pa ng mga dating Mayor ang kaguluhan tuwing Kapistahan ni San Juan Bautista. Madalas, maruming tubig ang ginagamit. Maraming mga nasasaktan, nagsusuntukan, nagrarambulan, kaya...naglabas ng ordinansa para mapatawan ng multa ang mga lalabag sa maayos na kapistahan," Zamora said.

It's even prompted Senator JV Ecerjito to chime in as the former mayor of San Juan from 2001 to 2010, claiming that the chaotic nature of the festival makes the city look bad. 

"Bilang dating Mayor na nag-conceptualize, nag-organisa, at nag-ayos ng San Juan Fiesta, ako ay sadyang nalulungkot na nagbalik ito sa dating kaguluhan, at walang disiplina ang mga nakikipagbasaan," Ejercito said in a Facebook post. "Hindi ganito ang mga San Juaneños."

2024-07-02T08:15:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd