ON THE SURFACE, the ordinance authored by outgoing Councilor Julian Lavadia declaring a five-year moratorium on the operation of any form of legal gambling — and other gambling activities in the city — bingo, for one — appears to be just one of those “midnight’ordinances that have more form than substance, more wind than will, more bark than bite.

        The committee on the Search for Ms. Bicolandia this coming Peñafrancia fiesta met Monday and mapped out what could be a signature presentation this year of the city, under a new chair — city councilor, environmentalist, and ladies in Green founding president Badette Florendo Roco.

        The Committee which will be meeting the talent scouts on Thursday has come up with the concept that the beauty search shall have undertones of Bicol culture and of the conservation and protection of the environment.

        The concept is commendable, considering that the city has been included among the short list of “live earth cities” in Southern Luzon with its entry “Save Mother Earth, Naga City, Philippines” and that the city is a member of the “cool mayors” association all over the world whose purpose is to address the climate crisis in their own respective regions. Taking the environment as one of the concerns of the Search for Miss Bicolandia is indeed worthy of acclaim.

        The concept is commendable considering that in the search for Miss Earth Philippines held at the University of the Philippines Theatre on April 29, 2007, a tourism student from the Mariners’ Polytechnic Colleges in Naga City — Ms. Joycie Nocomura —was crowned Miss Earth Philippines Water, one of the five major titles. Water has always been a component of the Penafrancia festivity. The inclusion in the Search for Miss Bicolandia the concern for a wholesome Naga River through which the Ina of Bicol journeys on her return to her shrine is indeed worthy of acclaim.

        The concept is commendable considering that the chair of the Committee on the Search for Miss Bicolandia is the 2007 Sarignaya Awardee in the individual category, a recognition given not just to anybody but to someone “made of sterner stuff’, one who has shown consistently and conspicuously concern for the environment. The advocacy for the environment of Chair Badette Florendo-Roco is not the run-of-the-mill kind, not pipitsugin, not sampulo-cinco. Her advocacy is so effervescent and effectual that it must have energized the very members of the committee she chairs in the Search for Miss Bicolandia. This development is indeed worthy of acclaim.

        The concept is commendable inasmuch as through consultations and references with other sectors in the community, the orientation of the Search for Miss Bicolandia has been given the downright support of the religious group and other well-meaning associations. The concept for the beauty contest this year will in a very large extent be an exposition of the culture of Bicolanos and of the evil of subjecting the Bicol language to alterations and misuse in the mass media. Such an orientation in the Search for Miss Bicolandia is indeed worthy of acclaim.

        The committee on the Search for Miss Bikolandia 2007 has a very noble aim in deciding that the search will be oriented towards concerns for culture and the environment even without doing away with the usual swimsuit competition. In this manner, the search will have something different to offer to the thousands and hundreds of visitors in Naga City, come September.

        Such an orientation is a veritable statement that advocacy and concerns for culture and environment have a place in beauty contests, if not the power to enhance the search for a real Bicolana.