Negrenses and tourists from around the globe have been coming together the past evenings at Freedom Park to celebrate Buglasan Festival with its various events. The festival kicked off last week with the theme Building friendships worldwide, opening development opportunities.
Winning the dance showdown were Sibulan’s Yagyag Festival, making them back-to-back champions.
The Yagyag dance showdown was choreographed by competition veteran Dingdong Ang.
A float depicting a giant crab was one of the most eye-catching and most-photographed pieces during the parade.
In 2nd place was Dumaguete’s Sandurot Festival, which was also awarded as Best in Street Dance.
Third place went to Bayawan City’s Tawo-Tawo Festival.
The street dance was held Oct. 23, which had been declared an official non-working holidy in the Province.
Thousands of locals and tourists lined the streets of Dumaguete, pumped up by the loud rhythmic banging of huge drums and trumpets filling the air, as dancing contingents from Bayawan, Tanjay, Manjuyod, Bais, San Jose, Dumaguete, Sibulan, Jimalalud, and Mabinay showed off their various colorful costumes, each symbolizing their respective town’s distinct festival.
The dance showdown was held Friday morning at the Lamberto Macias Sports & Cultural Complex.
John Kevin Barote from Sibulan, and Michelle Teves of Bais won the titles of Buglasan King and Queen, respectively.
Teves was also Best Speaker, Best in Filipiniana, and bagged the Filipiniana Designer award.
Other event highlights for the week were the Bulilit minus-one singing competition held Oct. 20, where kids from all over the Province came over to the Capitol forecourt stage to compete for the title. Fregemila Estrada, representative for Dumaguete, stood-out and was declared champion. Francheska Benedian from Bayawan was 1st runner up.
The town of Jimalalud won 1st place in the Children’s Choir competition; Bayawan came in 2nd, and Dumaguete ranked 3rd.
A live band competition was held at the Freedom Park, with the band from Bayawan taking home the title as champion. Bands from Dumaguete and Bindoy got the 2nd and 3rd places, respectively.
Meanwhile, representatives from Dumaguete triumphed on two contests: the Ballroom Dancing Competition, and the Folk Dance Competition. Both events were organized by the Department of Education.
Aside from bringing festivity and celebration, Buglasan also played a part in the development of the participating cities, towns and municipalities.
“The impact of the Buglasan as an activity of tourism and attraction lay in economic development, livelihood, and tourism development,” said Dr. Nichol Elman, co-convenor of the Buglasan Festival of Festivals.
He said that through the showcase of talents and products, livelihood opportunities were provided for designers and women who manufacture various local products. “Exposing our talents and products to the world is making them aware what we can contribute,” Elman said.
He noted that one town that also gained opportunities from Buglasan is Dauin, which has a number of well-developed world-class developed beach resorts.
Elman said something like this could have only resulted from development opportunities offered during the Buglasan and the increased attention that Negros Oriental gets each year.
He also noted the numerous invitations that the Province now gets from the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines–a “likely result from the much-awaited annual Buglasan Festival. (Aliyah Millares, Lizbeth Andaya, Kim Selda/SU Mass Com Interns )
