Leyte festivals to join Asia’s grandest parade in Singapore

TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 5 -- Two festivals in Leyte province have been picked as participants to represent the country in the 2019 Chingay Parade, dubbed Asia’s largest street performance and float parade in Singapore.

Dancers of Tribu Buraburon of Burauen, Leyte and Sanggutan Festival in Barugo, Leyte have been preparing for the event to be held on February 15 and 16, 2019. The two festivals have merged as one contingent to form the 230-member delegation.

Burauen town Mayor Juanito Renomeron said on Wednesday the parade is an opportunity to promote Eastern Visayas as a tourism destination. “This is also to show our gratitude to the people of Singapore for their aid after Super Typhoon Yolanda ravaged the region in 2013.”

The Team of Leyte Young Talents and Entrepreneurs (LEYTEam) proposed the participation of Leyte festivals to the event to be held at the Singapore Formula One Pit Building Area.

On its Facebook account, LEYTEam said the participation of Leyte Festivals to the Chingay parade is a symbolic part of the 50th anniversary of Philippine - Singapore Bilateral relations and the 200th founding anniversary of Singapore in 2019.

“We are glad to welcome and showcase the magnificent festivals of Visayas to this biggest parade in Asia. We are excited to see the young Filipino talents performing in Chingay Parade mobilizing the youth as front-runners in promoting tourism, ASEAN, and culture,” said Julian Aw, director of Singapore Chingay and Events Network in a recent letter sent to Embassy of Singapore in Manila.

Chingay Parade will be participated in by 2,000 volunteers, 6,500 performers, hundreds of thousands of onlookers and 70 million potential television and online viewers.

“This is a plus to us because the country and the people where they are going to will get a chance to see an example of festivals in the Philippines. This is not a really hard core promotion since this is only subtle,” said Department of Tourism Eastern Visayas Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes.

Tribu Buraburon, the grand champion in this year’s Aliwan Fiesta in Pasay City, is a production dedicated to the Mamanwa Tribe and provides awareness on the need to protect the endangered Philippine Eagles.

Sanggutan Festival, which has won in the past regional festivals, honors the traditional way of making coconut wine. It is a dance of celebration of men gathering local wine together with family members. (SQM/PNA)