CEBU, Philippines — It was a night of celebrations yesterday during the awarding ceremony of the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo 2024 at the Cebu City Sports Center, with winners presenting again their performances, plus special awards were given out, and the Cebu provincial government declaring the event the best it has ever been in years.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, in her speech yesterday, expressed her gratitude to all participants of the event, saying she can’t wait for next year’s Pasigarbo sa Sugbo, which has been dubbed as the festival of all festivals in Cebu.
“Buot nakong ipaabot sa tanan na mga nisalmot, truly last night's show, including the street dancing… that was the most spectacular, the grandest, hard to beat Pasigarbo sa Sugbo ever! And that is because all of our local government units have leveled up,” Garcia said.
“This Pasigarbo sa Sugbo has been the most meaningful and symbolic. First of all, in the highly-competitive grand ritual showdown, for the very first time we had a new set of judges who had never ever witnessed the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo in the year's past,” Garcia added.
Provincial Board Member Red Duterte, the chairman of the board’s committee on tourism, said they were also even surprised with how successful the event turned out.
“We got the shock of our lives. It was the best Pasigarbo so far,” he said, adding that all performances definitely leveled-up.
For his part, Cebu City acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia has assured the provincial government of his support for the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo.
"For as long as I am in government, the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo is always welcome here in the City of Cebu," said Garcia, adding that the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo 2024 made him think of how the city government can also "level-up" the Sinulog 2025 this coming January.
"Last night, we witness a spectacular show, and I was so happy to be able to see it pero at the same time, naka ingon ko sa akong kaugalingon 'grabe kaayo ang performance, karon Enero unsaon naman sad nato ni pag level-up ang Sinulog 2025 after seeing last night's performance," said Mayor Garcia in his speech.
Yet, the acting mayor said that he is not worried as he knows that mayors and vice mayors in the cities and towns of the province will support Sinulog 2025 to make it "grand and spectacular" just as how they did in the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo 2024.
"Kahibaw ko dili biyaan ang Cebu City I know that they will help and support Sinulog 2025 to make it a big grand and spectacular show just like the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo 2024," Garcia added.
Winners
Dagitab Festival of the City of Naga emerged as the grand champion and will be taking home P5 million, while the Sarok Festival of Consolacion town garnered the most awards during the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo 2024.
The festival of lights of the city of Naga, which was showcased through a Christmas celebration concept, captured the hearts of the new set of judges who gave the group the highest score among the 51 competing contingents.
Last year's grand winner, Sugat Kabanhawan Festival of Minglanilla bagged the second place, followed by Garbo sa Lapu-Lapu of Lapu-Lapu City on third place, while Kabkaban Festival of Carcar City placed 4th and Isda Festival of Madridejos clinched the 5th place.
Consolacion’s Sarok Festival, while only winning 12th place in the ritual showdown, bagged the fourth place in the street dancing category, as well as best in Jingle Festival, and Best in Decorated Float.
Other cities and municipalities also bagged several awards, including Lapu-Lapu City’s Garbo sa Lapu-Lapu that won third place in the ritual showdown, first runner-up for the festival queen, and first runner-up of Best Mayor’s Introduction Video for Mayor Ahong Chan.
Liloan’s Rosquillos Festival won 9th place in the ritual showdown, second place in the street dancing, and fourth runner-up in the festival queen category.
Madridejos town’s Isda Festival won fifth place in the ritual showdown, Best in Festival Costume, and first place in the Best Mayor’s Introduction Video for Mayor Romeo Villaceran.
Carcar City’s Marie Yasmin Fabian won Festival Queen 2024 while its Kabkaban Festival contingent won fourth place in the ritual showdown, and first place in the street dancing competition. Argao town’s La Torta Festival won 10th place in the ritual showdown and third runner-up in the festival queen category.
Bantayan town’s Palawod Festival won as Best in Caro and fourth place as Best Decorated Float, and Carmen town’s Sinulog Festival won third place as Best decorated float and best festival queen costume (designer).
Alegria town’s Que Alegre Festival won 13th place in the ritual showdown and Alegria Mayor Gilberto Magallon won fifth place in the Best Mayor’s Introduction Video.
Poro town’s Panagbagat Festival won fifth place in street dancing and their festival queen, Mary Love Lopez, won Miss photogenic.
Other winners in the grand ritual showdown are Panagtagbo Festival of Mandaue City (6th place), Tuba Festival of Borbon (7th place), Sikoy-Sikoy Festival of San Fernando (8th place), Hinulawan Festival of Toledo City (9th place), Kagasangan Festival of Moalboal (11th place), Katunggan Festival of Tudela (13th place), Banig Festival of Badian (14th place) and tied on the 15th place are Bonga Festival of Sibonga and Tubod Festival of Tuburan.
Panumod Festival of Barili landed on the third place in the street dancing category while Panagsogod Festival of Sogod and Lingaw Sadya Festival of Balamban landed on the second place and 5th place, respectively, in the Best in Decorated Float.
Santander Mayor Marites Monic Buscato and Samboan Mayor Emerito Calderon won third place and fourth place, respectively, in the Best Mayor’s Introduction Video.
In her speech, Gov. Garcia said the winners, as well as all presenters this year show the capabilities of all towns in the province, small or big.
“As we speak of the ritual, when the results came out, I believe that everybody agreed with the results. Ang akong nalipayan mao, sukwahi sa pagtuo kanhi, niana atong mga mayor nga walay chance ang gagmayng lungsod kung makigbatok sa mga dagkong dakbayan. Ang resulta nakit-an nato nga naa man gikan man sa pinakagamay nga lungsod o gikan sa pinakadako na dakbayan kung Sugboanon na gani ang hagiton, level-up, ipakita ang kakayahan og unsay imong mapakita, kitang tanang mga Sugboanon angay gayod ipasigarbo.
Toledo City scoring
In the middle of the event on August 25, Governor Garcia had to point out that a "deduction" of points was set to go to Hinulawan Festival of Toledo city for failing to follow the one-minute ingress.
But it was pointed out that the previous contingent had not completely removed all their props from the stage so Toledo City also could not set up their own props. The Toledo contingent was supposed to enter the stage at the start of the introduction video of their Mayor.
However, after all the contingents performed and right before the announcement of winners, the governor said the judges decided to go with the score they put for Toledo without deduction.
"Please understand that the results that will be read tonight for the ritual showdown will refer to the actual scores without deductions..." Garcia said.
"So ang scoring as far as Toledo was concerned, kung unsa may iyang nakuha nga score, wala toy penalty..." she further explained.
Meanwhile, Garcia also reiterated that the Pasigarbo is not "a waste of money" but rather an "an economic activity."
"It's actually pouring money into the economy," she said, explaining that many sectors have benefited from the said event, not just the artists and designers, but also vendors like those selling flowers and food.
"Some people dont realize nga kon asa ipahigayon ang Pasigarbo daghan ang matabangan na negosyo" Garcia said.
Special prize
The town of Dumanjug also got a special award yesterday from the Capitol following the fire incident on the day of the Pasigarbo wherein their float caught fire right before the event was about to start.
They were able to save a few pieces of their float, which they added into a smaller makeshift float that they used for the event.
With this, Gov. Garcia handed them yesterday a certificate of recognition and extended cash assistance of P200,000 to the town. — (FREEMAN)