The Kadayaw Festival of Pambujan town in Northern Samar province bagged the grand champion award during the first-ever Ibàbao Festival of Festivals in the province.

The Kadayaw Festival is a ritual presentation performed by locals of Pambujan town every first full moon of the year as a gesture of prayer to God for bountiful farm and sea produce the whole year round.

The contingent received a PHP300,000 cash prize for winning the festival competition, the provincial government announced on Tuesday.

Runners up during the grand parade and presentation on Monday are the Lobika Festival of Lope de Vega town and the Parayan Festival of San Roque towns.

The two won cash prizes of PHP200,000 and PHP100,000, respectively.

Festival contingents from 16 out of 24 towns in Northern Samar competed in the first Ibàbao Festival of Festivals held in celebration of the province’s 58th founding anniversary.

It is one of the highlights of the two-week Ibàbao Festival activities that began on June 4, with the theme “Proudly Ibàbaonon: Promoting tourism, preserving history, sustaining progress.”

Ibàbao was used to name the festival, deriving from the ancient name of Northern Samar based on historical accounts.

To give Ibàbao Festival an identity like the other festivals in the country, the provincial government has gathered all musicians and instrumentalists in the province in a workshop to compose a piece of original festival music.

The result of the workshop was festival music that combines the rhythm and steps of two of the most popular dances in Northern Samar, the Dos Amigos – a traditional dance from the island municipality of Capul – and the kuratsa mayor – a variation and a faster version of the kuratsa dance, one of the traditional dances in Eastern Visayas.

Northern Samar Governor Edwin Ongchuan expressed hope that this would raise cultural awareness, deeper appreciation of history, cultural heritage, and development of Northern Samar, and instill pride, integrity, understanding, and unity among the present and future generations.

“The competition is one of the dry-run(s) for the biggest festival competition that they will hold on the 60th founding anniversary of the province in 2025. Expect more things to come. It will be more exciting,” Ongchuan said in his message.

The Ibàbao Festival was launched by the province of Northern Samar to entice tourists to visit their province, especially now that all towns in the province are connected to the main national road, and peace and order, and security are improving.

The governor said the province has a lot to offer to tourists but only a few are aware of this because of the lack of promotion and the previous negative image of the province due to threats of armed rebels.

Among the destinations in the province are Sila Island in San Vicente where Pink Beach is located, along with the Sila Island Resort – the only resort in Eastern Visayas that offers services like in Amanpulo and Balesin; the island municipality of Capul that is on the list of international cruise ships destinations in the region, the Biri Rock Formations, the Lalaguna Mangrove Eco Park, and the Caba Beach in Allen town. (PNA)