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.

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.

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:

A Merry Christmas

Hello! It’s late but still I wanted to great you a Merry Christmas. May the joy and peace of Christmas be with you all through the year.  Here in the Philippines, however, celebrations start as early as first day of September and because of this, our country has earned the distinction of having the world's longest Christmas season, which lasts for at least 5 months (festivities usually continue after December 25, and may extend until January of the following year).

Christmas is time for giving, loving and of course a time for God.  I really have a wonderful Christmas this year. I celebrate it with my family, friends and God. Let me show you what we did on Christmas season.

Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh I'm Twenty One!

Finally 21 and legally able to do everything I've been doing since 17. I could say that its one of the best birthday ever. Thanks to my family, workmates and friends for remembering and celebrating with me on my special day.

Food Attack! The Mooon Cafe & Tempura Haus Back To Back Food Adventure

“Give your self a treat”, these words suddenly came into my mind on December 2 Friday night. I SMSed my friend if she could come with me to have dinner outside, “Sure”, she responded.

Ormoc's 2nd Pasalamat Tugob Festival

After the breaking traditional Charter Day activities last year, the 2nd Pasalamat Tugob Festival is once again highlighting the 64th Charter Day celebration in Ormoc City, Leyte.

Tugob means “abundant” in the Visayan local dialect. The festival aims to showcase the 11 products identified to be abundant in the city namely: steam, water, pineapple, sugarcane, cassava, fish, livestock, coconut, vegetables, rice, and even sand and gravel. To translate these products, said to in abundance in the city, into a festival, different schools of the city were tapped to depict it.

Ormoc City

I am an Ormocanon since birth. I nurture, learned and mold from this city. Maybe some of you here never heard the place before; let me show you how beautifully my city is.

The City of Ormoc is a 1st class city in the province of Leyte, Philippines. The city's name is derived from ogmok, an old Visayan term for lowland or depressed plain. It is the first non-provincial city of the Philippines. Ormoc is the economic, cultural, commercial and transportation hub of Western Leyte.