CASSAVA FESTIVAL

Tudela, Camotes – The third town going northeast from Consuelo port, San Francisco, Camotes. The municipality boasts of its traditional celebration of the Cassava Festival. The cassava, locally known as “kamoteng kahoy,” is a root crop usually made into cakes, cookies and “puto balanghoy.”

The emergence of local festivals in the town pushed the Cassava Festival into obscurity until the officials of Tudela revived the tradition as a unique celebration in honor of Mary Immaculate, the town’s Patroness.

The invitation of the local government of Tudela to judge the Cassava Festival last December, through the chairmanship of vice mayor Clint Maratas and festival director Rosel Cuesta and Mrs. Lyndee Garciano, prompted Badian choreographer Mario Norieto Apostol and this writer to travel by land and by boat to the beautiful place.

Warm smiles and the relaxing sea breeze greeted our eager faces during our brief stop at the beach park fronting the town church, municipal hall and gymnasium. We were then introduced to three other judges for the event, fellow choreographers from Ormoc, Leyte, Jeremy Movilla, Rosel Dawat and Efren Laviste.

The five of us became instant friends and the following morning, we went around the streets on a motorcycle to judge eight uniquely decorated arcs, all vying for the plum prize.

As we were looking at the sixth arc, this writer saw a sculpted miniature version of a “daru” (plow) attached to the side of the arc. A brief hilarious grabbing frenzy followed but the prized item landed into this writer’s hands, with of course the permission of the owners. The arc with the “daru” eventually won the top prize.

Soon the street dancing started. Their version of street dancing (processional parade) was composed of two - progressive and stationary. The latter was held in front of the town’s church and this writer enjoyed an aerial view from the church’s balcony.

Seven contingents competed in the elementary department while two contingents competed in the high school category. People did not mind the intermittent rains during the whole program because spectators and performers swarmed the venue, with our without umbrellas.

Mc Arthur Elementary School (Pundok Cassava Cake) bested all contingents in the elementary department with Tudela ES (Pundok Inday-Inday) finishing second and Barangay Calmante (Pundok Maruya) finishing third. Pundok Inday-Inday bagged the best in street dancing award. The other contingents in the elementary department were Buenavista Elementary School (Pundok Lidgid), Villahermosa ES (Pundok Cassava Cookies), Puertobello ES (Pundok Linubid) and Secante ES (Pundok Iraid).

PNHS Main Campus emerged the winner against PNHS Extension in the high school department.

A post evaluation-discussion was set after the event between the organizers, judges and choreographers to provide vital information for the improvement of the festival.

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OR’s Christmas Celeb @ Park Mall

Local FM radio station MOR 97.1 “Lupig Sila” staged a grand Christmas celebration at the Park Mall last December 18 to reach out to their avid followers and listeners and in celebration of their 13th anniversary.

Ten local dance crews competed in a pop modern dance that must contain the latest ABS-CBN Christmas jingle. The contenders were Flipende Mix Crew, Type One, Fil Pride, Side A, Serenity, Xtreme Shock, Chemical edit, Unlimited Hiphop, Snap Boys and Slip Up. The latter won over the other hopefuls with Snap and Unlimited in second and third palce, respectively.

The event was star-studded but the real stars were funny DJs Piolo Askal, Ms. Jackie and Santino, among others.

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SWU’s Got Talent

Southwestern University’s Students’ Day last December was a show of talent.

Sponsored by its Supreme Student Government, the different colleges in the university took the talent test. The colorful College of Nursing won first prize in the modern dance category while the School of Business, represented by three half-naked male fireball performers, won in the SWU Got Talent category. Special thanks to Mr. Wilfe for the invitation.