Nine groups competing Queseo Festival

CEBU, Philippines - Nine contingents from elementary and high school categories will participate in the second year of the Compostela town's Queseo Festival on July 25 in connection of the annual fiesta celebration.

Five contingents will represent elementary schools while the rest are from high schools.

Prizes for both categories are P30,000 for the first prize, P20,000 for the second and P10,000 for the third.

Earlier, the Municipal Council of Compostela passed an ordinance creating the Queseo Festival to be the official festival of the town starting 2013.

Queseo or cheese is a result of processing carabao milk and a number of families in Compostela town reportedly derive their daily earnings from the business of preparing the queseo.

Vice Mayor Josephine Abing and members of the Municipal Council agreed to change the town's festival from Caballo to Queseo to promote the town's known product.

The ordinance cited that almost all towns adopted the same policy in promoting their products such as Argao's torta, Liloan's rosquillos, Consolacion's sarok, Lapu-Lapu's guitar production and Mandaue's bibingka, among others.

The council said it is high time to establish the town's identity in the field of tourism.

Caballo Festival, meanwhile, started during the administration of former town mayor Antonio Dangoy based on the town's patron St. Santiago Apostol who is portrayed as riding a horse.

In a related development, Mayor Joel Quiño and members of the newly-formed Chamber of Commerce in Compostela headed by its vice president Manuel Mendoza announced the different activities lined up in connection with the town's incoming fiesta celebration.

Quiño said they are introducing new nightly programs in order to drum up support from residents and their visitors.

A car and motor show has been scheduled on July 19 to be initiated by the Chamber of Commerce in Compostela. On the same day, the members of the chamber are also set to take their oath of office.   (FREEMAN)