Leyte scores two big wins in Sinulog fest 2012

By Provincial Media Relations Center
January 16, 2012

TACLOBAN CITY  –  Leyte scored a two-win feat at the recently concluded Sinulog Festival in Cebu as Lingganay Festival of Alangalang, Leyte was hailed as the grand champion of the Free Interpretation category and Karatong Festival of Dulag landing  in third  in the same category.

Despite being a first-timer in the national festival competition such as the Sinulog, Tribu Lingganay wowed the crowd with their colourful costumes and props earning them the top spot and a whopping P1 million in cash prize.

Lingganay Festival would be the first contingent to receive the cash prize of P1 million for a grand champion eversince the Sinulog fest was started.

In a phone-patched radio interview with Alangalang Mayor Loreto Yu said they were just “very happy” to win this year considering this was their first time to join.

“This is indeed a big honor for the people of Alangalang and for the province of Leyte. We were determined to give them our best but it sure is much bigger for us that we went home with the top prize,” Mayor Yu said.

Tribu Lingganay defeated Tribu Himag-ulaw of Placer, Masbate which was the Grand Champion during last year’s Sinulog Festival.  The Lingganay contingent wore costumes designed as cat suits while their colorful props included huge cut-outs of the Sto. Niño, trees, flowers, and bells.

Aside from winning the top spot in the free interpretation category, which earned them P1 million, the contingent from Alang-alang was also named best in costume with a cash prized of P100,000 and best in musicality with another cash prize of P50,000.

Dulag’s Karatong Festival also won the third place in the free interpretation category. Karatong has been joining the Sinulog Festival in previous years where they earned a Top 5 win some two years back.

Leyte Gov. Carlos Jericho Petilla expressed his elation over this twin triumph of Lingganay and Karatong. The provincial government extended financial assistance to these festivals as they prepared for the competition some months ago.

The governor said, this just gives the province more reason to continue supporting the development of our local cultural festivals.