Art Verité Gallery

Sunday News Report

The month of May is particularly special for Valencia, Negros Oriental, for this is when they celebrate the month-long festival of “Chada Valencia.” Basically meaning “Beautiful Valencia,” “chada” is uniquely used in Bisaya-speaking Negros.

Walking around Valencia Plaza on the night that the festival was launched, the energy was peaking, and many of the town’s youths were present. Singing along with the performing bands, eating from one of the many food stalls in the local Sibaan, or fit checking clothes from the ukayan street, it was the beginning of summer.

Next morning, I returned to the plaza out of curiosity. Comparing the crowds the night before, there were mostly the famous pigeons – a little low energy – perhaps sleepless from the events of the night before, and a good number of individuals lounging or sleeping in the plaza bleachers, or on benches here and there.

That’s when it struck me. I was looking at a scene straight out of a Rey Labarento painting. This is that old man sleeping precariously on the edge of the stone bench. Those are the pigeons that flit and flutter around his canvas. This is what he sees.

Investigating the unfolding of events, let us analyze the evidence presented by key eyewitness Labarento:

The new day begins as someone opens a bottle – is it beer? Maybe. Moments later, two guys engage in arm wrestling, a battle after one bottle. In a nearby corner, an old man contemplates the meal he just finished, puffing a cloud of smoke as he wonders if he will stay hungry. Wherever you go, you can’t escape the high notes and sentimental songs coming from the modern karaoke. Who needs that clunky machine when a smartphone works just as well! The kids are alright, as they are also preoccupied with video games on smartphones. Hey, I’m the next one, Bunso says.

Eyes closed, and off to dreamland, but the man is just sitting on a park bench – a long day done, but the night has just begun! Hey that guy is missing a slipper! Chit chat, hanging out, stores and carinderias overflow with locals. With some already sleeping on the sidewalk, you wonder, tomorrow is absent day?

Hours later, a guy in a dad cap wonders as the blue sky rises, what happened last night? The dog and the cat say, “beats me!” The night may be over, but the day has just begun! You hear the revving of motorcycle engines, and one after another you see the townsfolk heading to the seventh day routine. Their bayongs containing their prized fighters. A memory crosses your mind of an old guy with half a head of hair, stroking his lucky charm.

As his canvases explode with more and more color, and the characters come to life, Rey Labarento stays true to the spirit of his neighborhood. Simple as some might say, the people that he sees are all part of a continuing string of life, and each and every painting is an honest and sincere homage to the gentle people of his hometown. Chada like no other.

Written by Koki Lxx