The 32nd Kadayawan Festival has officially opened on Monday after Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio banged the gong three times to represent Davao’s three major ethnic populations: Lumad, Christians and Muslims.
In her speech, Mayor Sara expressed gratitude to the partners, private sector partners of the City Government, sponsors as well the different sectors to include local and national government agencies for making the 32nd Kadayawan Festival possible. “Ang pinaka importante sa tanan, ang akoang pasalamat ug pagtimbaya sa atuang 11 tribes na gipangunahan sa atong Deputy Mayors, kung dili tungod sa inyuhang participasyon dili mag malampuson ang atuang pag selebrar sa Kadayawan sa Davao,” she said.
She added that while Davao City is in celebration, the city is commiserating with the suffering of the people of Marawi.
“We are with you, we are one with you because we are one nation,” Duterte said.
Capt. Rolito Go, the president of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce also shared his message in the vernacular. “Daghan ta diri nagka hiusa para sa nahimong Davao City karon,” Go said. He said that with unity, the city can do so much.
He praised the executive committee for doing its best to make this celebration successful. “ Ang akong kasing-kasing, ang akong buong pagkatao, ang akong huna-huna ay tinuod nga Dabawenyo,” said Go.
The theme of this year’s Kadayawan is Stand tall,United. Resilient. This was shown through the Tribal village and other activities prepared for everyone. “Nalipay jud ko kay daghan ni tambong sa opening at lalong lalo na po sa suporta n gating 11 tribes,” said City Tourism Officer Regina Rosa Tecson. She also said that starting this Thursday going to the weekend the major hotels in the city are already fully booked and they are expecting an influx of tourists to the City.
Festival director Gatchi Gatchalian announced at the Kapehan sa Dabaw Monday morning the final list of competitors for the major events. There will be 11 provincial participants and nine Davao based participants for the indak indak sa kadayawan. There are five confirmed tribes for Dula Kadayawan. Pamulak sa kadayawan there will be six participants for the big category, nine for the small category and for the new category called “Lahi” which will be animal driven there will be five participants and lastly there will be seven non-competing or corporate floats.
For sa Habi Kadayawan in partnership of SM Lanang Premier there are 13 designers but with a total of 15 entries. The Sayaw Kadayawan at the Sm City Davao drew nine participants from the children category and nine for open category.
For Tunog sa Kadayawan there will be 10 competing song writers, Pitik Kadayawan will have 12 participants. The Kaundayawan which will be held Palma Gil Street beside people’s park will have 40 committed food vendors and the famous Singaporean street food advocate Chef Sito.
The doodle art competition called Mugna sa kadayawan has 20 entries in the professional category, and 20 entries for the student category. “We are aiming to be the doodle capital of the Philippines,” said Gatchalian. The size panel board which will serve as the canvas for the artist will be 40×8 ft. This event is in cooperation with Boysen. All artworks will be displayed in the Kadayawan Village.
The official opening of the Kadayawan Festival coomenced on Aug. 14, Monday, “We are ready and we are prepared for the whole week, masyado na kaming excited.” Gatchalian said. He also mentioned that Mayor Sara Duterte- Carpio will be present on the opening of the Kadayawan Festival together with other councilors and is expecting 500 guests. After the opening ceremony of Kadayawan, the official opening of Kadayawan Village commenced. The Kadayawan Village will be open to the public during park hours.
The set-up of the four mega tents for the Kadayawan dome is also underway “The entrance will look like a dome at bale apat yun na Mega Tent na pinag dugtong dugtong namin,” Gatchalian said.
This will be the venue for the Inda-Indak sa kadalanan, Pitik sa Kadayawan, Pamulak sa Kadayawan and other major Kadayawan events. “Performance area po ito sa para sa major events natin sa kadayawan para kahit umulan man o umaraw definitely padayun gyud atong mga competitions;” Gatchalian said.
Upon the arrival of tourist will surely feel the Kadayawan vibe because the airport is decorated with kadayawan insprired decrations. “paglabas mo talaga ng tube may nakalagay na madayaw greeting, which is all part of the Kadayawan preparation,” said Gathalian.
Last Saturday morning, August 12 the additional security forces arrived to help secure the Kadayawan Festival. “I will not give the exact figure but more than a thousand na, (number of security forces) for Arm Forces of the Philippines pa lang yun hindi pa kasali ang sa Philipine National Poice,” said Commander Colonel Erwin Bernard Neri on an interview. Task Force Davao Commander added. “Lahat ng security operations ay ginagawa ng Task Force Davao together with the Davao City Police ay mag papatuloy yun,” said Neri.
There will be check points in all major entry points in Davao city, aside from that there will be plenty random check points to ensure that every one who will be entering Davao city will be checked. “hinihiling rin naming sa mga dadalo sa kasiyahan ng Kadayawan na wag na pong mag dala ng Backpacks, madedelay lang sila dahil i-ccheck po namin yun.” Neri added.
The alert level of the security forces is high with or without threat. “I would also like to ask the help of the public, na kailangan na mag tulung-tulungan tayo dahil napaka-importatne po na mag observe rin po kayo ng mga suspicious person na naka motor, i-report po agad sa 911, Davao City Police Office at sa Task Force Davao,” Neri said.
There are also parties that will be happening at Kadayawan dome such as Smart night, SMB night and Coke night. There are also celebrities that confirmed to attend in the celebration. The confirmation for the VIP is yet to be revealed but is welcome to join the celebration. “Ang mga major hotels po natin at fully booked na,” said Gatchalian.
The official media partner is the Davao Digital Influencers which is headed by Glenn Santillian. The official fan page is the Kadayawan sa Davao “Make sure to like our page, so you can get updates aandun lahat ng mechanics ng ating online promos,” said Gatchalian.
He also said to follow the instagram and twitter accounts @kadayawanfest. “We took into consideration ang social media dahil libre siya, so that’s the fastest and the most real time updates na pwede nating gawinsa ating kadayawan activities,” said Gatchalian.
