Sta. Cruz entry tops 3rd Cebu kite contest

Barangay Santa Cruz's "The Philippine Star" bested 52 other entries in the 3rd Cebu City Inter-Barangay Kite Flying Festival held yesterday at the South Reclamation Project open field.

The entry looked like a Philippine flag shaped like a star and was made by Joseph Cabarubias.

When asked why they chose the Philippine flag as design, Cabarubias' wife said that it just came to her husband's mind. Cabarubias and company received a trophy and a P15,000 cash prize.

Barangay Busay's "Flowers in Paradise" bagged the second place. The kite's design looked like flowers in a vase with yellow triangular posts at the sides. Busay won a trophy and P10,000.

Winning P8,000 and a trophy was the entry entitled "Sea Horse" from barangay Mambaling. The design was two brown seahorses with yellow, red, blue, green, and black striped wings.

The Most Attractive and Most Creative Kite Awards were given to Mambaling's "Birds in Paradise" and Barangay Buot Taop's "The Witch" respectively. Both entries received P5,000 plus a trophy.

Non-winning entries also received P2,000 each as a consolation prizes.

Cebu City Youth Development Commission Department Head and event organizer Gina Yosores said that this year's Kite Flying Festival had more participants than last year.

"Last year, only 19 barangays participated. This year we have 25 barangays, 15 from the north and 10 from the south," Yosores said. There were also 53 entries this year compared to last year's 50.

Before the kites were allowed to fly, each entry was viewed by the judges and scored on the criteria of originality (40%), artistry (40%) and visual impact (20%). University of San Jose-Recoletos PTA President Bobby Mariño, former University of the Visayas professor Fe Entano and Jojo Sagayno judged the contest.

Each entry was given 10 minutes to prepare for takeoff and another 10 minutes to stabilize its condition in the air. The entries were required to stay in the air for 20 minutes.

Two points were deducted from the overall score of the entries for every kite crash.

Barangay San Nicolas' "Eagle" was not able to finish its 20-minute required time in the air after its string broke. The judges gave it another chance to fly with the last batch of entries.

To the amusement of the crowd barangay Basak, San Nicolas' "Superman" and Capitol Site's "Angel of Glory" flew together as if they were lovers in the air, they also fell earthward together later.

Gracing the event were Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Vice Mayor Michael Rama, CCYDC chairwoman councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, CCYDC vice chairman councilor Eduardo Rama, councilor Jose Daluz and other city officials. - Noreen B. Napoles, UP Masscom intern