CATIGBIAN showed a masterful stroke to cap the three-day Katigbawan Festival and Diamond Jubilee festivities with its Street-dancing and Exhibition and Fireworks Display its people wanting for more.
In most celebrations where activities were clocked to the hour, people would usually feel the strain and the fun would subside naturally after the three-day adrenaline scrapes rock bottom; not for Catigbianons.
Still agog and not willing to leave the town Sports Oval after the last remnants of the fireworks display glowed to ember, people lingered, congratulating each other and drumbeats refused to stop.
The ten-minute fireworks display came after the Katigbawan Street Dancing and Exhibition Judge Mariquit Oppus announced the winners and the dancing contingents jumped in jubilation.
Streetdancing committee chairman Councilor Mariano Maglahus Jr. said this year was a great improvement form last year’s festival as they accepted 9 competition contingents and an overwhelming 17 streetdancing groups from the towns barangays, guest performers and supportive groups.
We put up a minimum of 50 to a maximum of 75 dancers and 15 instrumentalists for each secondary school dancing contingent and 30 to 60 in the elementary, he added
Defending Champion Catigbian National High School contingent bowed this time to the perfect execution of routines and innovative rendition of the ritual from the town’s Immaculate Mary Academy for the High School category.
IMA romped with P25T cash prize and trophies while CNHS got P10 for the high school category.
Catigbian West Central Elementary School, bearing Tribu Dagook too romped with the top prize of P10T and major awards for the elementary category as Hagbuaya Elementary’s Tribu Kanggawong settled for next spot winning P7T cash and trophy.
The town popped as Bohol’s center of attention when its drum-beating Katigbawan Festival directed people from practically all walks of life convinced they would be in for a surprise coming to the town center to join the celebrations.
The town has seen its most rapid growth in the past years, a fact most people would credit to the local leadership.
I don’t want to singularly take the credit because honestly, it is the whole performance team’s effort and our unity and cooperation has translated to the benefit of our people, Mayor Salinas candidly admits.
He said they wanted a true identity for the town and envisioned the Katigbawan Festival as a real showcase the true Catigbian and its people and work from there.
Working from there for him means finding alternative channels for people development like agro and eco-tourism.
He said Katigbawan is festival of rooting the people’s identity and comes from katigbi: a grass specie abundantly teeming in the town’s open fields. Katigbawan is also has Tigbaw native name for caves and Kabawan, a local term for livestock auction focused on large livestock.
In getting its identity now, Catigbian boasts of the biggest and most modern Livestock Auction Center in the Visayas, a drafted eco and agro tourism program to start as many job opportunities for the empowered people here.
Recently the town leaders have aggressively lobbied for support from government and private sector stakeholders to cooperatively approach development blue print and plant the pillars.
But first we have to tell the people about the town, its people and its traditions, thus the street-dancing and exhibition, Salinas said. (PIA)
