Dinagyang kicks off

The impressive Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City started off yesterday with the novena for the Sto. Niño (Holy Child Jesus).

Actually, the annual religious and cultural celebration goes into high gear starting tomorrow. But the buildup started yesterday.

Already, according to Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation vice president Ricardo Andrada, hotels in Iloilo City are fully booked and more tourists are expected to witness this year’s festivities.

Yesterday, the festivities were ushered in by the novena in honor of the Sto. Niño.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas exuberantly declared that the Dinagyang this year may transcend the festivities in the previous years with more visitors expected.

Three nights of fireworks will be held on Jan. 23 to 25.

“It will be spectacular,” Mayor Treñas asserted. The fireworks will be launched at the vast carpark of SM City in Mandurriao district with 16 entries from various parts of the country.

Last year, some 500,000 spectators witnessed the fireworks competition.

The Pyrolympics, as it is called, has become the main attraction of Dinagyang, drawing a lot of visitors and locals.

As described by Iloilo tourism officer Ben Jimena, also the executive director of the Dinagyang Foundation, the show which lasted for three hours drew 500,000 people into the Diversion Road, the bypass road in Barangay San Rafael and the old airport road, last year. Restaurants and food kiosks near the event site ran out of food due to the sheer volume of spectators.

Treñas indicated that 43 very important guests have already confirmed their attendance at the world-famous celebration on Jan. 23-24. Also some 200 invited guests are expected to attend the affair, including foreign tourists, balikbayans, and foreign and national personalities. They include Senators Miguel Zubiri, Bong Revilla and Jamby Madrigal.

The others are Chinese Consul General He Shijing and his companions, European Union’s Alistair MacDonald, national treasurer Roberto Tan, Undersecretary Austere Panadero of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, World Bank’s Mark Woodward, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Franklin Ebdalin, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Esperanza Cabral, and Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

Tourism department’s regional director Edwin Trompeta attributed the drawing power of Dinagyang to the fast drumbeats – the riotous dance movements, and the colors and combined religious cultural activities of Dinagyang which earned for it the award Tourism Event of the Year from the Association of Tourism Officers all over the country.

The highlight will be on Jan. 25 when the different tribes will compete in designated judging areas in a frenzied and riotous manner matching their colorful choreography and ear-shattering drumbeats.

In Kalibo where the famed Ati-Atihan Festival reaches its climax this weekend, there were reports that some 30 Russian visitors have booked with a local resort to attend the famous festival and join the “1-2-3 hala bira” beat of the Ati-Atihan.

The 30 are reportedly part of the 300 Russian visitors who recently arrived in Boracay in response to the DOT’s campaign.

Msgr. Jose Dollete of the Kalibo Diocese urged the Kalibo Ati-Atihan Management Board to prohibit the sale of bladed weapons during the celebration of Sto. Niño.

Well, that is the only start of the series of Aklan festivities in honor of Sto. Niño until the end of the month. “Hala bira” continues to resound in the streets of Aklan’s various communities.