Mega Cebu month: Festivals showdown highlights youth summit

CEBU, Philippines — A mini ‘Pasigarbo sa Sugbu' participated by seven contingents from cities and towns in Metro Cebu highlighted this year's Mega Cebu Youth Convention held at a local mall on Saturday.

The contingents were representatives of Karansa Festival (Danao City), Dagitab Festival (Naga City), Dinagat Festival (Cordova), Sugat Kabanhawan (Minglanilla), Rampada (Lapu-Lapu City), Sarok Festival (Consolacion), and Sikoy-Sikoy Festival (San Fernando).

Among the seven, five winners will be declared on October 5. The contingents will perform again on the said day, the culmination of the Mega Cebu Month.

Competition Judge and Sinulog Artistic Director Patricio “Junjet” Primor Jr. expressed his happiness to see an event similar to Pasigarbo sa Sugbo.

He added it was difficult to judge since each festival is unique, same with the identity of the town or city that it represents.

Primor further expressed that there is a need to gather and train the festival choreographers in Cebu noting that many contingents presented “modernized” version of the dances and have placed “lesser” emphasis on the dance basics of each town or city’s folk dance.

The event was organized by the Metro Cebu Development Coordinating Board and its youth counterpart, Club Mega.

“It is for the youth to know the rich culture of Cebu and how colorful it is. And not just to know the culture but it is also a great avenue to showcase the talent of the youth from different cities and municipalities,” said Club Mega Executive Chairman Divine Cañon when asked why they featured festivals this year.

She also shared her belief that the youth has the power to get involved in realizing the 2050 vision for a more vibrant and sustainable Cebu.

Aside from the dance competition, the convention also featured talks on how the youth can respond to the community realities. Around 1,300 youth from different parts of Metro Cebu participated in the activity. Metro Cebu includes 13 local government units from Danao City in the North and Carcar City in the South.

Club Mega Assistant Secretary Rhea Peñaflor, the commissioner representing Visayas in the National Youth Commission, urged the youth “to delete the mentality that government and development is an adult job.”

She encouraged the youth to help in nation-building as the leaders and beneficiaries of community projects today.

Three youth leaders who have made their mark in project benchmarking also shared their experiences for the audience to learn from and be inspired. (FREEMAN)