A Majika-filled Kadayawan Festival

Davaoeños experienced a unique Kadayawan Festival this year as GMA Network brought the biggest stars of its top-rating primetime fantaserye, Majika, to the annual festivities, much to the delight of Kapuso fans in Davao.

Fans trooped to SM City Davao as soon as the mall opened its doors last Aug. 19. They eagerly awaited the special Kapuso Kadayawan show that featured Angel Locsin, Dennis Trillo, Katrina Halili, Polo Ravales and Ryza Cenon together with the hosts of GMA Davao’s exciting variety show, Kuyaw.

Festivities began at 11 a.m. with 103.5 Wow Nindotah Ah’s Videoke Contest. Before noontime, the SM City Davao’s Activity Center overflowed with fans who wanted to catch a glimpse of their favorite Kapuso idols. Auditions for Kuyaw’s singing contest segment called Pop Sensation Showdown were held from 1 to 2 p.m.

The Kapuso show began at 2 p.m. with fun games and raffle prizes. Finally, at around 4 p.m., deafening screams filled the Activity Center as Angel, Dennis and the rest of the Majika cast performed on stage.

Members of the local press interviewed the Majika stars at a specially-assigned area at the backstage during the show. A few lucky fans had the chance to interact with their idols, who gamely signed autographs and posed for photo ops.

GMA Network also joined the Kadayawan floral parade the following day, Aug. 20. The network’s grand Majika-inspired float boarded by its stars was eagerly-anticipated by the crowd.

GMA’s float was the slowest-moving during the parade, as fans swarmed around the vehicle. At Rizal Park, the float made a full stop in front of the stage as the stars waved to the crowd and again granted interviews with local media covering the event.

GMA pre-empted its regular Sunday morning programming for the comprehensive live coverage of the Kadayawan Festival with updates on the float parade and various highlights of the Kadayawan celebration like the Indak-indak sa kadalanan.

To ensure top-quality live feeds, GMA News used its SNG-Advent equipment set-up – the very same broadcast equipment the network used to transmit clear and crisp video feeds directly from the Mt. Everest Base Camp during its Everest Watch just a few months ago. GMA also placed remote set-ups in three major areas (Rizal Park, CM Recto and Magsaysay).

For the first time, Davao’s TV viewers experienced a three-way split screen broadcast of the festival which gave them the feeling of being in three places simultaneously as they watched festivites from home.

GMA Network OIC for Regional TV Rikki Escudero thanked Davaoeños for the tremendous support they gave to the events mounted by or participated in by the network.

"Our efforts to provide a Kapuso brand of coverage and entertainment for this year’s Kadayawan Festival were met with warm appreciation and support from the people of Davao. And for that we are indeed grateful and inspired to do more for our Davaoeño viewers. We hope to provide the same amount of, if not bigger, support for next year’s festivities. Our participation in this year’s Kadayawan Festival heralds GMA Network’s commitment to hold more events and public service projects down south, in particular, Davao City," Escudero said.

GMA Davao’s local primetime newscast, Testigo, started airing Kadayawan-related events during the weekdays leading to the finale. National and international broadcasts were made possible via feeds for GMA Flash Report, GMA Flash Report-Special Edition and contributions to Review Philippines (the primetime weekly news round-up anchored by Mike Enriquez for GMA Pinoy TV, GMA’s international channel). Colorful feature stories on Kadayawan and Davao City were also aired in the network’s top rating national newscasts, 24 Oras and Saksi.