ORMOC CITY, Oct. 23 (PNA) — Lively festival music and colourful-clad dancers fill the streets on October 20 as the city celebrated thanksgiving during the 5th Tugob Festival, one of the highlights of the 67th Charter anniversary.
Bringing cheers were 12 contingents of about 120 participants from different schools and groups who showcased the local richness and prosperity during the festive.
They vied for the title under the burly morning heat of the sun in a street dancing and performed at four stations, clumped their feet on the ground, smacked their thighs and clapped their hands. The showdown followed in the afternoon at the city superdome.
Each contingent was named after the resources that the city is abundant of – coconut, pineapple, rice, livestock, sand and gravel, water, sugarcane, vegetable, fish, steam, root crops and flower.
Tugob is a Visayan word that means bountiful or abundant. Ormoc City belongs to Cebuano speaking district.
Mayor Edward Codilla led the local officials, employees and around 8,000 spectators that occupied the dome and witnessed the multi-coloured presentations enduring the non-air conditioned sweltering ambience of the venue that is still under repair after the devastation of typhoon “Yolanda”.
The festival highlighted the 67th Charter Day anniversary that was participated by estimated 20,000 crowd.
The street dancing started around 8 a.m. passing through the city’s major city streets and the dance showdown at 1 p.m.
Each participating contingent depicted through a dance the livelihood that the food and natural resources have provided the people.
Like the white-clad steam, contingent depicted geothermal steam that endowed with geothermal energy and produces electricity.
The city, together with nearby Kananga town, hosts the Leyte Geothermal Production Field (LGPF).
Today, the geothermal plants in Ormoc City provide electricity not only to the locality, but also to other parts of the region and some provinces in the Visayas and Luzon.
Edwin C. Codilla, Tugob Festival committee chairman and executive director invited festival experts from Cebu City as judges chaired by Junjet Primor, Sinulog Foundation executive director and international dance and fashion choreographer.
Western Leyte College (vegetable contingent) took all the major awards as this year’s festival champion (P200,000), best in street dancing (P20,000), best in costume (P20,000) and the tugob queen taking home P7,000 pesos.
New Ormoc City National High School (flower) and Eastern Visayas State University (sand and gravel) were the first and second runners up receiving P190,000 and P180,000, respectively. All winners also received trophy.
The champion’s choreographer automatically proclaimed the best choreographer receiving 10,000 pesos cash and trophy.
The non-winners were given 150,000 pesos consolation prize.
They were judged based on choreography and originality, performance, creativity of costume and non hand-held props.
This year’s festival was the first being participated by non-school contingents – association of barangay (village) chairman and public market vendor’s association.
Mayor Codilla thanked all the contingents especially the schools for despite the ruins caused by super typhoon “Yolanda” in November 8, everybody merrily took the pleasure in participating the celebration.
Edwin Codilla for his part expressed gratitude to the sponsors who warmly bestowed help, thus making the event successful. (PNA)