Tugob Festival 2012: Street Dance and Final Showdown

It was a celebration of thanksgiving. Lively festival music reverberated in the air of Ormoc City on Oct. 20, as the city celebrated its 65th Charter Day and 3rd Tugob Festival.

Dressed in vivid costumes, the different school contingents stomped their feet on the ground, raised their arms, slapped their thighs, clapped their hands and shouted in unison as they thanked the Lord for a bountiful harvest and for give the city an range of natural resources.

Twelve contingents participated in the festival. Each of them was named after the resources that the city is bountiful most: steam, coconut, sand and gravel, flower, rice, livestock, water, pineapple, root crops, vegetables, fish and sugarcane.

The street dance competition started morning right after the parade. Then around 1 p.m., the Tugob dance showdown started at the Ormoc City Superdome, the dome was fully packed with audience.

In the street dancing, each contingent was given at most five minutes to present in a pre-designated area along the major streets of the city. During the final dance showdown, each contingent was given 6 to 10 minutes to present their number. Each participating contingent showed through a dance the livelihood that the food and natural resources have given the people, giving more emphasis on their assigned resources.

Wearing a fish and other marine life designed costumes, the Fish contingent, composed of students from the Western Leyte College, bagged the Best in Costume prize of P20,000 and the Best in Street Dancing Award, winning another P20,000.

The Sugarcane contingent, composed of students of the Eastern Visayas State University - Ormoc City Campus, bagged the grand prize for three consecutive years in the dance showdown competition. They received P160,000. Second placer in the dance showdown was the Vegetables contingent, composed of students from the Sto. Niño College which won a prize of P150,000 and third placer was the Fish contingent which won a prize of P140,00.

The Best in Choreography award was also given to EVSU (10K), SNC (9K) and WLC (8K) respectively.

Miss Tugob Festival Queen 2012

Twelve lovely ladies from different schools in Ormoc City are vying for the title of Miss Tugob Festival Queen 2012 last October 17 at Ormoc City Superdome. Pretty lass from Western Leyte College of Ormoc, Inc. coveted the crown for two consecutive years. Princess Diane Mercado represents the Fish contingent bested among the 12 candidates as she wowed the crowd in the rhythm of festival beat with her colorful and humongous festival costume and amusing props along with her back-up dancers. She also won the Best in Production Number, Best in Production Presentation, Miss Photogenic and Miss Smart Communications Executive Choice awards.

Kathleen Sofia Dy represents Sand and Gravel contingent of STI College place second and won Best in Solo Performance. Aileen Flores represents Sugarcane of Eastern Visayas State University place third. Aura Shaznay Tumulak represents Livestock of New Ormoc City National High School and Ormoc City Central School won the Best in Festival Costume and Smart Communications Texter’s Choice Award.

Summer Is More Fun In The Philippines

Quintessence of summer will finally bid goodbye any day from now, so before it will end I make it sure that I'll be having some fun; bath and play under the heat of the sun.

Summer is indeed more fun in the Philippines especially that we're profuse in beautiful natures where you can wind down, take adventures and wander around.

I've just had the most awesome island vacation ever and it happened in Canigao Island. See post here. The island is awesome! You guys should find time to go there if you haven’t yet.

My other summer adventures takes place in Sabin Resort Hotel on 20th of May, during our company's summer outing. I really had a good time spending summer time with them. Lots of gifts were given, delicious foods and superb fun and games.

See photos and videos below.

Canigao Island Bust Out!

Holy Week is the time when we’re supposedly listening to Homilies and Lenten reflections (which I always follow and never forgotten), but somehow I see it as an opportunity to have a vacation from work. For the first time, I spent my Holy Week vacation away from our house. I decided to spend it on somewhere I can relax and at the same time to enjoy!

On Good Friday and Black Saturday, I was far away from our house; I’ve spend it with my friends at Canigao Island.

Canigao Island is a little island situated in Matalom, Leyte. It is famous for its great beach and beautiful view, and of course the crystal clear water and white sand bar. It’s a great place for swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and, yes, camping! The island is pretty a great deal! It's an inexpensive weekend get away for everyone!

How to get Canigao Island if you're from Ormoc City? You have to take 2 hours of travel by van which travels daily down to Maasin City. You have to drop off at Brgy. Itom in Matalom, Leyte instead of going direct to Maasin City (better ask the drivers because they know where you to drop). You're now in the port, you’ll have to take a ride in a pump boats or motorized banca to finally bring you to the island. Fare is Php45 which good for a round trip fare and travel time will only take 15-20 minutes. A Php15 entrance fee will be collected as you get their. Different amenities are  to be offer such as nipa huts for Php400 per day with an additional Php200 charge if you plan to stay overnight, and a tent from Php200-300. The island has a little market which sells rice, canned goods, drinks, fresh fish. shells etc.

Some people call Canigao Island the other Boracay but Canigao gets more of a local crowd. A walk around the entire island takes about 30 minutes. Let me show you what’s in Canigao Island.

I Shall Return

Where did General Douglas McArthur land when he returned to the Philippines to set free the country from the Japanese invaders? It’s in the Imeldific island of Leyte! Where a park, formerly called the McArthur Park and now called the Leyte Landing Memorial, located at the Red Beach, Palo, Leyte.

After being exists in the province for more than 22 years, I just have been in the park on the 25th of March; this was my first ever meet-up with Gen. McArthur (my bad lol)

If you’re quite curious why it is called Red Beach, the beach’s color went brown to black — not red. The “red” in Red Beach doesn’t refer to the natural color of the sand, but its color after being drenched in blood.

Bitter Sweet February

This is my one and only blog post for the month of February.

Finally, February 2012 has finally blown right away. I feel so unlucky with this month: I got pressure on my job, was sick and broken hearted due to my emotions and no special someone to date on Valentine’s Day huhuhuhu.

Some of my friends told me that I’m so bitter. So what? I just can’t feel February. It started when  I was in high school, when I started to fall in love lol.

I am so thankful for my ever supportive friends for sweetening up my bitter life.

So here are some of the highlights of my February 2012:

Facebook 30 Day Photo Challenge: Accomplished!

I just accomplished my Facebook 30 Day Photo Challenge. It's pretty self explanatory, but basically days 1-30 there is a certain photo for that particular day and upload it on Facebook. This challenge is interesting and very inspiring. This is just a simple way to catalog each day in a different way.

I had a little difficulty completing this challenge because I’ve been so busy the past couple of days and sometimes I lose an idea on what pictures I should post that day. With all the challenges that I have joined either in Facebook or Tumblr, this is the first challenge that I completed. Such a nice feeling when you finish it. Now that I accomplished this, I got hooked to take another photo challenge. Watch out for that, I’ll blog it soon. But for now, take a look on the lists of my Facebook 30 Day Photo Challenge below, I hope you'll enjoy!

Viva Pit Senior! A Sinulog Festival Experience.

It’s all FIRST!

• First blog post of the year
• First time to travel without my parent’s accompany
• First time to land in the city of Cebu
• And first time to experience Sinulog Mardi Gras. Yay!

From Wiki, the Sinulog festival is one of the grandest and most colorful festivals in the Philippines with a very rich history. The main festival is held each year on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City to honor the Santo Niño, or the child Jesus, who used to be the patron saint of the whole province of Cebu (since in the Catholic faith Jesus is not a saint, but God). It is essentially a dance ritual which remembers the Filipino people’s pagan past and their acceptance of Christianity.

The festival features some the country’s most colorful displays of pomp and pageantry: participants garbed in bright-colored costumes dance to the rhythm of drums, trumpets, and native gongs. The streets are usually lined with vendors and pedestrians all wanting to witness the street-dancing.

“Sinulog, isyagit ug kusog. Pit Senior! Pit Senior! Tanan magsaulog!” this is the beat we can hear practically everywhere in Cebu and other neighboring provinces just after New Year. I decided to join in the fun as the Grand Mardi Gras is fast approaching!

Yay! I have my comfy slippers and shoes already! I am now prepared to experience Sinulog and ready for a looooooooooong walk around the city. This is great!