Pasko sa Mandaue to feature festival of lights

CEBU, Philippines — Mandaue City's annual Pasko sa Mandaue will feature a festival of lights among other activities.

According to Josephus Bihag, Officer-in-Charge of Mandaue City Tourism Office, it will be the first LGU-initiated festival of lights in Central Visayas.

The theme for this year’s December cultural festival would be White Christmas.

Different activities for the Mandauehanons will be held starting December 15, Friday, 8 pm at Mandaue Plaza.

However, there will be no food park during the event because of concerns on garbage disposal and security.

The Festival of Lights will be participated in by the 27 barangays of the city although only 21 confirmed their participation as of yesterday.

The participating barangays were given the freedom to choose the theme of their float.

The barangays that will join the contest will be given a subsidy of P25,000.

The prizes for the winners will only be announced on the day of the competition.

Bihag said that to make it more memorable to the Mandauehanons, the Mandaue City Tourism Office decided to hold the Festival of Lights instead of the usual parade of lanterns.

The budget of the activity will not be more than P1 million.

Other activities for this year's Pasko sa Mandaue will be the percussion band competition to be held on Saturday.

The 'Kanta Ta, Banayng Mandauehanon' will be participated in by members of the family that sings. The group should consist of a mother and children, or a father and children, or parents and their children. They should provide a photocopy of their marriage contract for the parents and birth certificates of their children.

On December 18, Monday, they will have 'Daygon sa Mandaue' which will be attended by the 27 barangays and on December 22, Friday, they will have a dance showdown.

But Bihag said there will be no food park in the city this Christmas season because of security and garbage disposal concerns.

The first food park was established in August this year and it drew hundreds of individuals.

Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing has planned to open a food park this month after seeing that many people flocked to the area last August to taste local cuisines like pochero, bakareta, caldereta, lansiao, balbacua, pork and chicken, as well as barbecue and lechon.

The food park of the city government last August was opened in line with the business month celebration. (FREEMAN)