San Juan celebrates feast day

The vibrant and progressive town of San Juan celebrates today the feast of its patron saint, John the Baptist, with day-long festivities and merrymaking, highlighted by a street dancing competition, parades and the traditional basaan, which residents describe as "a well-intentioned dousing of water."

"Come one, come all," San Juan Mayor Joseph Victor Ejercito said as he prepared for the grand procession of religious icons held the other night in honor of St. John the Baptist. "San Juan wants to share its blessing with everyone in this joyous occasion."

Ejercito expressed his appreciation for all the people who flocked to the town to ensure the rousing success of the week-long celebration dubbed "Wattah! Wattah! San Juan Fiesta 2005."

Basketball, volleyball, power-lifting, body-building and karate competitions spiced up the first three days of the festivities, which began June 18, underscoring San Juan’s reputation not only as a civic-oriented town, but also a sports-loving community.

On the eve of the feast day proper, activities included the live telecast from the town plaza of the noontime TV show Eat Bulaga.

A free evening concert featuring popular bands was also held at the town plaza, capped by a fireworks display.

Today, TV shows Unang Hirit and Magandang Umaga Bayan will also broadcast from San Juan early in the morning. The street dancing competition kicks off at 7 a.m. while the Santong Tao and Basaan! parade commences at 8:30 a.m. with water trucks and floats.

Smart Communications Inc. and San Miguel Corp. sponsored many of the activities lined up for Wattah! Wattah!

The Powerlifting Association of the Philippines helped organized the power-lifting competition, while the San Juan Volunteer Firefighters helped staged the body-building competition.

On the other hand, the Kyokushin karate competition was held under the auspices of the Kyokushin Karate-do Philippines. – Non Alquitran