Hudyaka Zanorte

CEBU, Philippines - Unity has worked big time for the province of Zamboanga del Norte as it has become a solid foundation in holding the province’s official annual festival – Hudyaka Zanorte that falls every last week of May until the first week of June.

Hudyaka is the Visayan term for “merry-making.” Considered as the mother of all festivals in Zamboanga del Norte and ranks sixth in the entire country, Hudyaka Zanorte is a convergence of 25 municipalities and two cities of the province to celebrate, party and just simply enjoy the week-long full of interesting and out of the box activities. The province is now using Zanorte as a moniker that means Zamboanga del Norte in order to deviate itself from the negative impression brought by the name Zamboanga which most of the public consider a war inflicted area. Zanorte Governor Rolando Yebes stressed that Zanorte is peaceful and safe, compared to the other areas in Mindanao. Yebes added that Zanorte continues to welcome tourists and assures their maximum security.

On its fifth staging of Hudyaka Zanorte, Dapitan is the host city after having been celebrated in Dipolog City in the past years. While Dipolog is the center for trade and commerce, Dapitan is the center for tourism, hence making this year’s festival extra special – highlighting the province’s tourism potentials and rich agricultural produce, as well. This year’s Hudyaka highlights the launch of the first amusement park outside mega Manila, the Gloria Fantasyland – a more than P200 million development, as well as Zanorte’s 57th founding anniversary with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gracing the opening, and who earlier led the groundbreaking ceremony of the cold storage facility in Dapitan to further increase the production of bottled Spanish sardines for export. 

The local government gathered its resources to build the Hudyaka festival site located at the Sunset Boulevard. It serves as the venue for select competitions, night parties and activities, and an exhibit area where booths, each representing the municipalities of Zanorte’s produce and tourist attractions. This writer dropped by the municipality of Piñan’s booth where more-than-five-kilo Hawaiian pineapples were on display, said to be the townsfolk’s biggest harvested pineapples. In general, all exhibitors’ booths were dressed in local materials, adorned with agricultural products such as vegetables, herbs and fruits.

Odd yet interesting competitions perked up the festivities – there’s the tirador shootfest, dama (that used coconut shells instead of coins and bottle caps) and regatta motorboat racing. There was quite a number of sporting events, as well, that occupied the festival calendar, including the jet ski challenge, golf, airsoft, 4x4 off-road challenge, mountain bike tour, poker, boxing, among others. Float and street dancing program capped the week-long festivities. Zanortehanons have this to say: “Mag-hudyaka, ta bai!”