Sinulog Festival 2011: Kapuso was there... and so was Kapamilya

CEBU CITY,Philippines — In this Queen City of the South, January is probably Cebuanos’ most colorful month for celebrating the Sinulog festival honoring the blessed Sto. Niño. Aside from the usual revelry — pulsating drumbeats, colorful floats, fluvial parade and Ati-atihan street dances — the attendance of some celebrities in this extraordinary celebration made it more memorable to all the Cebuanos.

Recently, GMA Network joined the festivities in a two-day event with some of the Kapuso stars. The jampacked crowd in The Terraces during the Sinulog Festival Kapuso Night went into frenzy when Paulo Avelino and newcomer Alden Richards of the upcoming show Alakdana rendered solo song numbers. Title roler Louise delos Reyes showed off her bubbly personality with her rendition of the song Love Story.

The Cebuanos — especially the gay members of the audience — screamed louder when Regine Velasquez, lead star of GMA 7’s upcoming comedy series I Heart You Pare appeared. Regine capped the night with her songs, Ako’y Iyong Iyo, and True Romance, theme song of I Heart You Pare which is slated to air early next month. She was also seen sharing the stage with the local “Divas.”

From left: Paulo Avelino, Louise delos Reyes and Alden Richards, stars of Alakdana

Day Two saw the Kapuso fans trooping to SM City Cebu Event Centre’s Kapuso Fiesta Mall Show to get a glimpse of their favorite stars from the cast of Dwarfina like Heart Evangelista, Dennis Trillo, Iwa Moto and the newest Kapuso Will Devaughn.

That cold rainy afternoon eventually warmed up when Will sang Wonderful Tonight with a Cebuana and I’m Yours solo. The Cebuanas were tickled pink when Dennis sang Hinahanap-Hanap Kita and Antukin.  The huge crowd got a closer look at Dennis when he went down the stage and fans took pictures with him. Iwa, on the other hand, rendered Umbrella and Bulong. Heart also got loud applause and more screams when she delivered her song Love Has Come My Way while she eagerly posed for pictures with excited fans. The cast expressed gratitude for the support they received in Dwarfina’s successful premiere last week.

Local GMA personalities Anna Maris Igpit and Yurri Deldig hosted the event.

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Heart Evangelista

CEBU CITY — ABS-CBN’s Kapamilya Caravan for Sinulog was met by heavy downpour last week. But the number of Kapamilya Cebuanos who trooped to Ayala Mall’s The Terraces never “drizzled” nor fizzled out. It doubled as the gloomy late afternoon ushered in the still rainy evening. Cebuanos stayed with their umbrellas to get a glimpse of their Kapamilya stars. It was also reminiscent of the two million people who braved the rains and the flood that early afternoon for the annual foot procession.

With the Cebuanos’ outpour of support to the Manila-based stars, Enchong Dee, Zanjoe Marudo, Coco Martin, Maricar Reyes and Ron Morales were on their toes to bring cheer and entertainment to fans — and to reciprocate the warm welcome greetings “Pit Senyor!” Before the stars were whisked off to the makeshift holding area and followers tried to break in the barricades, local talents like Phoebe Fernandez, Borgie Cabigas, Dan Genson and Blinky de Leon of Mag TV Na and Roy Empleo hosted the pre-event program and treated Cebuanos to fun games. Local shows like Kapamilya, Winner Ka and Mag TV na Cebu won at the 2010 Anak TV seal and are watched religiously by Cebuanos. They patronize their own. You will be surprised how Cebuano teens were eager to have Kodak moments with local talents. Of course, they couldn’t resist the charm of Kapamilya stars.

Kapamilya and Cebuano stars (from left) Borgie Cabigas, Roy Empleo, Phoebe Fernandez, Zanjoe Marudo, Ron Morales, Maricar Reyes, Coco Mtartin, Enchong Dee and DJ Jacky G

Zanjoe, Coco, Enchong, Maricar and Ron took turns performing. Enchong sang Justin Bieber’s Baby and grooved to the beat. He elicited a lot of screams from fans. Coco did a medley of teleserye theme songs like Tayong Dalawa. The crowd cheered Maricar as she performed a string of foreign and OPM songs. The guys temporarily put aside her dark Imortal character and seemed to be her willing victims. Ron serenaded the crowd with Ngiti.

The Caravan hosts also revealed that shows like Imortal, Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin, Kristine, Shout Out and Sabel top local ratings’ game and are staples of Cebuanos’ entertainment fare. Coco, Maricar, Zanjoe and Enchong went on stage for the last time and joined their local counterparts for the finale.

Coco with (from left) Phoebe and DJ Jacky

On that same day, Cebuanos jampacked Waterfront Hotel’s ballroom in Lahug for the Ultimate Leading Men concert topbilling Piolo Pascual, Sam Milby, Jake Cuenca, John Lloyd Cruz, Gerald Anderson and Enchong, with guest Pokwang. It was like raining Kapamilya men that side of Cebu.

The Kapamilya treat never stopped from there. In the annual Sinulog, there were more than 40 floats and 151 dancing contingents. ABS-CBN float was No. 29. Jericho Rosales, Jake, Zaijian Jaranilla, Xyriel Manabat, John Manalo and Julia Montes were aboard the float greeting 3.5 million people who participated in the festival.

 Kapamilya Caravan did roll in the Queen City of the South.