Sugbovlog contest to continue in 2025

CEBU, Philippines — After unveiling the winners of the first-ever Sugbovlog Challenge, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia announced that the competition will continue next year, with plans to honor winners every quarter.

The Sugbovlog Challenge is a Capitol-initiated program established to actively involve Cebuano youth through the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Federations in each local government unit.

Last December 16, the province-wide contest recognized 10 inaugural SK Federation winners, each receiving P1 million for infrastructure projects and P100,000 in cash.

The declared winners of the contest were Toledo City, Carcar City, San Francisco, City of Naga, Pinamungajan, Borbon, Oslob, Consolacion, Ginatilan, and San Fernando, all of which received the mentioned prizes.

Additionally, San Francisco town in Camotes Island was awarded an extra P1 million after being declared the winner of the People’s Choice Award.

Carmen town also emerged as a “surprise winner” when the Capitol decided to honor it with the Best Video award, earning P250,000 in prizes.

“Ang kining atong mga SK did not know nga duna tay special prize sa Best Video, but I saw nga naningkamot gyud sila,” said Garcia in her speech.

“If you saw the mastery and technical aspect of the video sa Carmen, it’ll really shake your and say “wow”,” the governor added.

Following the inauguration of the program, Garcia announced that this year will not be the end, revealing plans for the competition to become a year-long event starting next year.

Garcia also revealed that next year’s infrastructure prizes will be increased to encourage greater participation and passion among the youth.

“That’s something to aspire for, that’s something to sustain the spirit and the passion because when we fire up our youth, I know that they can soar even higher than us,” she added.

The competition invited Cebu Sangguniang Kabataan officials from across the province to create 3–5-minute promotional videos highlighting their towns' tourist spots, local foods, and historical heritage.

Their entries were uploaded in their social media pages which were evaluated by 23 judges, consisting of 20 Cebuano vloggers and three representatives from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

With plans to implement the program next year, Garcia challenged the SK officials to "level up" their performances.

“May I then challenge all of you: continue each of your vlogs. You are selling, you’re marketing, you’re showing the rest of the world just how beautiful, how charming, how dynamic each of your LGUs are,” Garcia said. — (FREEMAN)