Street Dancer Lauds Clean Dagupan, Hits Smelly Cebu

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY - Some participants of the 2019 Bayle sa Kayle (Street Dance) hailed the accommodation given by the local government unit (LGU) here but lamented the odorous highway of Cebu City when they used it for their street dance in the last Sinulog Festival.

“We were impressed by the accommodation given by Dagupan because she provided a set of stationary sound system at every dozens of meters of the highway that jibbed with our dance movement in the street. Your street here is clean unlike in Cebu where we were met by the whiff of urine in some areas and the stinking smell of the garbage that permeate the air,” an official of one of the 17 regional delegations commented.
Secondary public school students from these regions strutted their stuff to get the top plum where they gyrate, jump, run, somersault, and other antics on the more than a kilometer stretch of highway in Barangays Tapuac and Lucao here.

BAYLE - Street dancers from Region 12 strutted their winning form in the 2019 Bayle sa Kalye  held in Dagupan City that catapulted them to win this year's street dance versus participants from 16 regions in the Philippines. Bayle is under the National Festival of Talents of the Department of Education. PHOTO CREDIT: DEPED

“Pero iyong Dagupan po na part na maganda po talaga at malinis at okay ang accommodation, okay po talaga iyon,” the source, who shared the sentiments of fellow delegates, quipped.

 Even Cebu City Police Director Senior Superintendent Royina Garma exhorted last January 19 the Mayor Tomas Osmena Administration to address the issue of garbage collection for the Sinulog activities because this could be a possible security threat to the public, as quoted by this writer at Cebudailynewsinquirer.net.

 Garma made this appeal  after she noticed uncollected garbage along the routes of several Fiesta Señor activities.

She said that she saw uncollected garbage along the routes of the Walk with Jesus on January 10, Walk with Mary on January 18, the post Fluvial procession on Saturday morning, January 19, and the solemn foot procession on Saturday afternoon.

 Sinulog Festival is celebrated every 3rd Sunday of January for the new year. Its main draw is the grand vibrant parade and performances from teams from all around the world.

Police officers make sure that the solemn foot procession for the Sinulog Festival last January 20 was orderly and peaceful.|CDN Digital photo by Tonee Despojo

The MacArthur Highway here was closed by this city’s mayor Belen T. Fernandez to vehicular traffic when the program started at 5:30 Am last January 29 so vehicles could not hamper the street dance and the parade.

The source cited that in other regions where Bayle (dance) was held they paid for a truck that carry their mobile sound system that accompanied their dance steps while in this city they just danced based on their choreography without worrying about the payment for the truck and the sound effects.

“In other regions the water supply if it did not stop at nigh time it was off in the daytime it inconvenienced us. Here in Dagupan it was operating the whole 24 hours. You also have complete bedding for us at the City National High School, free foods and 24 - hour coffee at our billet there,” he cited in Tagalog to this writer.

NFOT, hosted by this burgeoning city from January 28 to February 1, aims to provide opportunity for learners from secondary schools and Alternative Learning System (ALS) to exhibit their talents and skills in language, arts, social studies, technology, and livelihood education.

DepEd Dagupan Schools Division Superintendent Lorna Bugayong, in an interview last Tuesday, cited that the Bangus City was chosen because she met all the requirements for conducting such national event like having a gargantuan air-conditioned stadium for the opening and closing program and other plenary activities that can occupy at least 2,800 people.

The mayor here offered the privately owned CSI Stadia and its other functions rooms for all contests to be conducted.

 The students, according to the source, were wide eyed at the huge world class Stadia because it was air conditioned and a lot of spaces for them to move.

“There are halls there where you can have photo sessions while the other participants do their dance pieces at the other huge hall. Not to mention it was only nearby a big mall CSI where we could buy our food”.

The Stadia is operated by the family of Fernandez, the equivalent of the Gaisano family who run chains of malls in the south, and a draw for this Northern Luzon city for delegates from various places in the country to do their convention and other events here

Aside from the NFOT hosted by this city, some 5,000 participants of the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) were impressed by the provincial government edifices like the Sison Auditorium and the huge Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center (NRSCC) in Lingayen, Pangasinan last January 28.

 At her speech at the NRSCC’s grandstand, Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones praised Governor Amado I. Espino, Jr. for a job well done in hosting the 2019 NSPC.

“Ang ganda-ganda ng level of preparation. Sanay na sanay ang Pangasinan sa national events. Napakaraming national events ang ginagawa dito kaya para sa kanila, ano lang ito ‘just one of those things,” Secretary Briones said.

Secretary Briones gave distinction too to Pangasinan for having produced intellectuals, politicians, leaders, and other national personalities.

Pangasinan is home to former President Fidel V. Ramos, U.S renowned writer Carlos Bulosan, and Five-Time House Speaker Jose de Venecia.

The 2019 NSPC is anchored on the theme “Fostering 21^st Century skills and Character-based Education through Campus Journalism.”

The NSPC and NFOT are considered  two of the DepEd’s “flagship programs.

READ MY COLUMN:

Why Dagupenos should envy Iloilo City