The Sleeping Dinosaur, white sand beaches, lumpia (spring rolls), and empanada (meat pies) are among the reasons why you go to Mati City— a good two and a half hour drive from Davao City.
There are also the city’s festivals – Sambuokan, Summer Frolic, cityhood, and Pujada Bay Fest – that were put on hold as the pandemic came into full force the previous years.
This year, the Pujada Bay Festival returned with a bang. After two years of socially distanced activities, the Matinians went out to celebrate the city’s grand festival, which is a celebration of the abundance of the city’s waterfront assets.
Part of the celebration of the 19th Pujada Bay Festival, which also coincided with the 15th Citihood of Mati City, was the Queen of Pujada 2022 that was participated by 19 candidates from the LQBTQ community.
The pageant was not the usual sash and crown competition, instead, it put emphasis on various advocacies in protecting and conserving Pujada Bay, which was recognized as one of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World (MBBW).
From the 19 candidates who competed in different outfits like swimsuit, long gown etc. only eight of them were selected to be included in the first set of the question and answer portion.
Jayrell Piastro Morato from Barangay Mayo, who wore a “pawikan” (sea turtle) costume and crawled imitating the reptile during the parade, won the title as the first Queen of Pujada Bay 2022.
In case you don’t know, the coastline of Mati City is a nesting place for pawikan.
In fact, Mati City has recorded the most number of turtle hatchlings released to the Philippines’ seas compared to other cities. For the last three years, the city-based conservation group Amihan sa Dahican-Save our Seas (SOS) released over 105,000 baby turtles into the sea of Dahican .
All the costumes paraded by the contestants looked like they came straight out under the sea.
No one was happier than Mayor Michelle Nakpil Rabat when she watched the people of Mati having fun and celebrating.
“Pa bongga tayo ngayon because we are not only celebrating the Cityhood of Mati but we are also celebrating life,” said Rabat.
The Pujada Bay in the idyllic capital City of Mati has made it to the list of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World (MBBW) because of its beautiful landscapes and seascapes emphasized by stretches of white sand beaches in its shoreline and turquoise waters.
The City of Mati is bestowed with beautiful beaches because apart from Pujada Bay, Mayo and Balete Bays are also part of the list of the MBBWA. Among the criteria in the Most Beautiful Bays tag include the community involvement in environmental protection and all the three bays have complied with the requirements.
