SANTA ROSA, Laguna—Dancers from eight public secondary schools presented this city’s 226 years of history in less than 10 minutes through a colorful and vibrant street dance competition at the opening of this year’s Sikhayan Festival.
The festival, held every Jan. 18, is celebrated in conjunction with Santa Rosa’s founding anniversary. Sikhayan, which stands for Sikap sa Kabuhayan, is an annual event celebrating the Rosenians’ spirit of enterprise that has, through the decades, fueled the city’s economic growth.
The Santa Rosa Science and Technology High School emerged as Grand Champion of the dance meet and grabbed the Best in Costume Award. Aplaya National High School won first runner-up, followed by Labas Senior High School, Pulong Sta. Cruz National High School, and Sinalhan Senior High School.
In harmony with this year’s theme, “Biyaya ng Kaunlaran Tagumpay ng Sikhayan ng Mamamayan,” the presentations of the schools centered on the different sectors that contributed greatly to what Santa Rosa is today—one of the most dynamic cities in the country.
Mayor Dan Fernandez said that every year, Santa Rosa makes sure the people will participate and be part of the celebration, mainly because it is for people. He said the people of Santa Rosa are the reason why the city holds its Sikhayan Festival every year.
“We ended the year 2017 with many awards, the most important of which is the Seal of Good Local Governance,” Fernandez said. “This recognizes our governance, and if we are governing well, it means we are serving the people well, and the city progresses as a result.”
This belief was shared by Rep. Arlene B. Arcillas, who said the success of the city is born out of love and unity of the people serving the city and the people itself.
The event was attended by Vice Mayor Arnold Arcillas and members of the City Council; heads of city departments and offices with their employees; and Barangay Chairpersons and Sangguniang Barangay members with their staff.
Guests included Laguna 1st District Board Member JM Carait and Rosauro Sta. Maria, head of the Laguna Tourism, Culture, Arts and Trade Office. The candidates for this year’s Ginoong Santa Rosa 2018 also performed during the event.
Aside from the SGLG, other awards received by the city in 2017 include the Tourism Excellence Award for Local Government from the Department of Tourism on Nov. 27 and the Silver Award on Environmental Compliance Audit from DILG on Dec. 4, in recognition of the City’s contribution in rehabilitation and preservation of Manila Bay and its watershed.
In addition, the National Nutrition Council awarded the City its 2nd Year CROWN Maintenance Award during the National Nutrition Awarding Ceremony on Dec. 12. The City was also recognized as the Overall Best Performing City in 2016 and Santa Rosa Community Hospital as the Top Hospital Performance Achiever on Dec. 14.
Other accolades to include in its long list of recognitions are the City’s awards as finalist in 2017 Most Business-Friendly Local Government Unit Award City Level 2 given by Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry for exemplifying commendable initiatives towards good governance reforms that promote trade and investments, and significantly contribute to local economic development; Recognition on 2017 ECCD Inter-Sectoral Dialogue; Best Supplementary Feeding Program Implementer from the DSWD Region 4A and the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System Certification for some of its offices.