Extreme heat fails to dampen festival in Tagbilaran City
CEBU CITY – The humid weather failed to stop thousands of people from watching the street-dancing competition and grand ritual showdown of Saulog Festival in Tagbilaran City, Bohol on Wednesday, May 1.
Despite the extreme heat, spectators started to swell on Carlos P. Garcia (CPG) Ave. as early as 2 p.m. The event started at 4 p.m. to protect spectators and the contingents coming from the city’s 15 barangays from the extreme heat. To cool off the venue of the street-dancing tilt, a fire truck drenched the entire stretch of CPG Ave. with water.
The parade started at the city plaza and ended at the CPG Sports Complex where the grand ritual showdown was held.
“First of all, I would like to thank the Lord Almighty and our patron saint Senor San Jose for giving us good weather from start to finish. The very nice weather really contributed to the success of the event,” Tagbilaran Mayor Jane Yap said.
“And of course, thank you to the 15 barangays. I could not have imagined what they did, all their preparations, all the things they had to do to make it to tonight’s event and we saw they gave their all in their performances. They showcased what their barangays have to offer and they have proven to the world that Tagbilaran is the best of the best and that life is a fiesta here,” she added.
Police Lt. Col. Homobono Sayon, chief of the Tagbilaran City police, said the event was generally peaceful. At least 20,000 people watched the festival show.
“It was generally peaceful. Some 280 police personnel were deployed and there were no reported major incidents,” said Sayon.
For this year’s Saulog theme, contingents showed how Tagbilaran was able to infuse its rich art and culture with digital technology.
Barangay Poblacion 3 was crowned champion in the grand ritual showdown and received ₱300,000 and P1million worth of projects.
Last year’s champion Barangay Tiptip was first runner-up and received ₱250,000 and ₱500,000 worth of projects. Barangay Cogon was third and got ₱200,000 and ₱300,000 worth of projects.
Barangay Poblacion 2 and Barangay Dampas got ₱150,000 and ₱100,000 after finishing third and fourth runners-up, respectively.