(Ibalong Festival 2018 photo by Emmanuel Solis)
LEGAZPI CITY – Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal on Monday expressed gratitude to the city residents for their support that resulted in the huge turnout of participants during the opening of the 27th Ibalong Festival last Friday, saying it was the biggest attendance so far in the history of the celebration.
Rosal, during his regular press conference, said the huge volume of attendees in the opening ceremony was a clear manifestation that the people of Legazpi are united and very supportive of the city’s festival.
"Some 40,000 locals, who came from all sectors of the society from students, professionals, youth, parents, vendors , city officials, city government employees, barangay leaders, officers and personnel of Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Navy (PN), government agencies, non-government organizations, business group, media practitioners, and even local tourists from neighboring towns joined and participated in the opening," the mayor noted.
The participants wore putong and colorful costumes as they walked and danced during the six-kilometer float parade on Friday that started in front of the city hall building and passed through main thoroughfare Rizal Street going to the city’s central business district and Embarcadero de Legazpi. IT ended at the boulevard in Barangay Dapdap, where the formal opening program of Ibalong Festival was held.
Rosal said Ibalong is the longest running tourism promotion festival in the entire Bicol region that expresses warmth and goodwill to all people.
"We are using Ibalong Festival as an instrument in promoting sports tourism in our city to make our local tourism sector a dynamic and competitive industry to pave the way for answering the needs and the desires of our visitors in order to give them more satisfaction as well as enjoyment and safety during every celebration of our festival," the mayor said.
Meanwhile, he invited city residents who are seeking employment to the job fair being held at Ibalong Centrum as part of the festivities.
Ibalong Festival is a yearly non-religious, folklore-based celebration depicting Bicol’s early beginnings, based on the epic written by the late Professor Merito Espinas that tells of mythical super heroes, villains, monsters and wild animals in the ancient times.
It is perhaps the only cultural event in the country that relives an epic, according to Mayor Rosal. (PNA)
