DAVAO CITY—The city will continue to celebrate New Year’s Eve in its unique way through the Torotot (Horn) Festival in partnership with Smart Communications for the fourth year in a row.
This year’s edition is “the grandest compared to the last three years’ festivals,” Arnold Dellosa, Smart’s Regional Sales manager said.
The telecommunications firm said it will continue to support Davao’s advocacy for zero casualties on New Year’s Eve—by using horns and noisemakers instead of fireworks—and the city’s anti-smoking ordinance through this activity, Dellosa said.
“Through the Torotot Festival, we can celebrate New Year’s Eve with no pollution but in a very fun way,” he added.
Dellosa said Smart is hoping the festival will be part of Davaoeño culture and will be a yearly activity.
City Tourism Officer Gene Rose Tecson said Davao will only cover costs for the venue and the security measures for the entire event, since Smart will handle all the prizes during the festival.
“The city will not shoulder any prizes since Smart has been generous enough to cover all of it. Our counterpart will be securing the entire event,” Tecson said.
For this year’s festival, Smart has doubled the prizes from P25,000 to P50,000 for the best horn design, costumes and hip-hop dance contest, while it put up P15,000 for the Zumba-inspired “Torotot” competition.
The event will start at 4 p.m. with a parade, with the program proper lasting from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Dellosa hopes next year the Torotot festival will go nationwide, since the former mayor of Davao City—Rodrigo Duterte—is now the President. He has long banned fireworks and cigarette smoking in all public places in Davao.