The Iloilo City and Province celebrated the annual religious and cultural festival – Dinagyang Festival. The festival is held annually on the fourth Sunday of January in honor of Santo Niño, the Holy Child. It is one of the largest festivals in the Philippines, drawing hundreds of thousands to over a million visitors every year.
The festival is well-known for its Ati Tribes Competition, featuring various tribu or tribe performers in Ati warrior costumes, presenting traditional choreographed formations, patterns, and rhythmic chanting to the beat of loud drums and improvised percussion instruments, that narrate different iterations of the history of Panay. Another highlight is the Kasadyahan Festival, where different cultural festivals from various places in Western Visayas come together to compete.
As the most awarded festival in the country and having been named the best tourism event by the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines (ATOP) for many years, the festival is often hailed as the “Queen of All Philippine Festivals.”
©https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinagyang
ILOILO CITY – Iloilo’s Dinagyang Festival was a big success, with the Tribu Pan-ay and the Tultugan Festival bringing home championship crowns for the Tribes Competition and the “Kasadyahan sa Kabanwahanan,” respectively.
Tribu Pan-ay of the Fort San Pedro National High School bagged the PHP1 million cash prize, PHP10 million worth of projects from the Uswag Ilonggo Party list pledged by Rep. James Ang, PHP15 million projects from the city government, PHP10,000 cash prize for the best music and best musical director special award.
“Dinagyang has gone really to the next level. Ilonggos are very proud, not only Ilonggos who are here in Iloilo or even in the country, (but) Ilonggos even abroad. They are all very proud, and I am very proud,” said Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas in a press conference Monday.
Also in the top five were the Tribu Paghidaet of La Paz National High School, Tribu Ilonganon of Jalandoni Memorial National High School, Tribu Mandu-Riyaw of Mandurriao National High School, and Tribu Salognon of Jaro National High School.
Tultugan Festival of Maasin town, on the other hand, won a PHP500,000 cash prize and PHP10 million worth of projects from Uswag Partylist, and an additional PHP40,000 for winning the best in discipline, music and musical director, choreography, and performance.
At the flag-raising ceremony at the provincial capitol, Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor said a bigger Kasadyahan is at stake next year as it “contributed to a more fun and exciting Dinagyang Festival” this year.
For the first time, the provincial government hosted the Kasadyahan event that showcased festivals of selected towns in the province.
“To say that the Kasadyahan sa Kabanwahanan was a resounding success is not enough. It is the best Kasadyahan in history,” Defensor said in a statement.
Other winners included the Tribu Jalaud of the Hirinugyaw Sugidanonay of Calinog and the Kaing Festival of Leon.
Meanwhile, the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) said the festival was generally peaceful with zero major crime incidents recorded.
The Task Group Dinagyang deployed 8,607 security forces in all the venues of Dinagyang-related events.
“The community witnessed active involvement from various law enforcement agencies within Iloilo City, working together to ensure the success of this year’s highly anticipated event. The whole-of-government approach, cooperation, and collaboration significantly contributed to the peaceful conduct of this yearly event,” said the ICPO in a statement following its closing and awarding ceremony for all the participating peacekeepers.
Towards the end of the revelry on Sunday evening, the task group monitored more or less 158,000 revelers in all event venues.
“Again, we made history; your support and cooperation are the keys. ICPO is proud enough to say that we have done something, we have achieved something, and we can do more when we unite and support each other,” said ICPO director Col. Joeresty Coronica. (PNA)
© https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1217799