Carcar City wins big in Pasigarbo comeback

CEBU, Philippines — Bagging two major awards and two out of four minor awards on Sunday, 2019 is Carcar City’s year in the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo.

Representing the Kabkaban Festival, Carcar won in the grand ritual showdown and street dancing competition. It also won best in festival costume and best festival jingle.

Two days earlier, in a separate event last Friday, its festival queen, Marla Alforque, was adjudged best festival queen.

Carcar bested 43 other local government units with a seamless performance that centered on its people’s musicality. Incidentally, it was the 43rd to perform in the ritual showdown at the Cebu City Sports Center that lasted almost seven hours and went beyond midnight.

Pasigarbo sa Sugbo Creative Director Victor Cuenco said choosing the winners was no easy feat as all participating local government units performed beyond expectations.

“I think they had a hard time in choosing the winner,” Cuenco said.

"In terms of the number of contingents, in terms of production value, this is among the biggest," he added.

In fact, during the awarding ceremony yesterday, organizers announced that the exceptional performances prompted the provincial government to give bigger cash awards.

The winner of the ritual showdown received P1 million while the winner in street dancing received P500,000. In this case, the prize money will go to Carcar.

Madridejos’ Isda Festival came in second with a depiction of an underwater world of sparkling fins and fluorescent corals and sea plants while Talisay City’s Inasal Festival came in third with flashy dance routines and props that looked like real roasted pigs, a delicacy that Carcar is famous for.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia also decided to award 10 contingents in the grand ritual competition.

In fourth place is Alcoy’s Siloy Festival, in fifth place is Consolacion’s Sarok Festival, in sixth place is Argao’s La Torta Festival, in seventh place is Naga City’s Dagitab Festival, in eith place is Moalboal’s Kagasangan Festival, in ninth place is Sibonga’s Bonga Festival, and in 10th place is Liloan’s Rosquillos Festival.

In street dancing, following Carcar were Asturias’ Lalin Festival in second place, Daanbantayan’s Haladaya Festival in third place, Toledo City’s Hinulawan Festival in fourth place, and Consolacion’s Sarok Festival in fifth place.

All 44 contingents paraded to the sports center from the Capitol area starting at 2 p.m. before the grand showdown.

Consolacion’s Sarok Festival received the best in audio van award while Mandaue’s entry honoring Saint Joseph won best in andas.

Lessons

Pasigarbo sa Sugbo organizers said they will have to come up with a more time-efficient event next year.

After the street parade in the afternoon, the grand showdown at the sports center was supposed to begin at 6 p.m. but was delayed for one hour.

But provincial tourism officer Maria Lester Ybañez said the number of participants was a big factor of the event finishing at almost 3 a.m. Monday.

"Dili ingon nga nalangay maong nadugay ta ug human. It's because daghan ta’g participants (It wasn’t really because of delay. It’s because we had many participants)," she said.

Cuenco shared the sentiment.

"In the past Pasigarbo's, the biggest number was 38. Now it's 44. It's quite late already but I believe the people are still waiting for the rest of the contigents to be done performing," he said Sunday night.

"Maybe, in the future, we could have a north category and south category and then a grand finals," he said.

Another option, he said, is to hold the street dancing in the morning and hold the ritual showdown in the afternoon.

This is especially important since the province expects a bigger turnout next year. (FREEMAN)