Tacloban City—Tacloban City, along with Tanauan and Burauen towns in Leyte, bagged the top awards in this year’s Aliwan Fiesta in Manila on April 27.
Tacloban got the Hall of Fame award after winning in the best float design for three consecutive years.
Dubbed as “Tacloban Through the Years,” the float was designed by artist-brothers Nick and Daniel Guarino.
It depicted the “upcoming events of international significance in Eastern Visayas whose Regional Capital is none other than the ‘City of the Happiest People in the World’, the City of Tacloban.”
The float, divided into sections, was highlighted by the iconic San Juanico Bridge to symbolize “oneness” of Leyte and Samar islands and embellished with indigenous materials.
The sections depicted Tacloban’s devotion to its patron Señor Sto. Niño, the upcoming 500th year of the birth of Christianity in the Philippines after the Spaniards landed in Limasawa Island in March 1521, the 75th anniversary of the Liberation Day Allied troops led by General Douglas Mac Arthur on Oct. 20, 1944, and the “gains” of Tacloban after its destruction from the 2013 Super Typhoon “Yolanda.”
Tanauan’s Pasaka Festival won the grand champion in the festival dance category through its Pintados Kasadyaan Festival of the Province of Leyte while Tribu Buraburon of Burauen got the second place through its Buraburon Festival.
The Pasaka Festival street dance performance featured “the culture of Tanauan, faith in the Almighty, and our resiliency to face life’s adversities, the true spirit of Pasaka,” according to Tanauan Mayor Pel Tecson.
Aliwan Fiesta, a yearly gathering of the country’s biggest and most popular cultural festivals, was organized by the Manila Broadcasting Company, together with the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Star City, and in cooperation with the cities of Pasay and Manila.