The most awaited event on Iloilo and also known as the Best Tourism Event of the Philippines is here. The Dinagyang 2009 festival will evolve in its tagline “On Higher Ground” with new innovations to further add color in the yearly festival in honor of Senior Sto. Nino. The festival will be officially launched on December 1.

In the list of events provided by Mrs. Nena Magalona, chair of the publicity and media relations committee of the Dinagyang 2009, among the new concepts for the 2009 Dinagyang festival are food festival of folk flavors or Kinaiyang Kalan-on, thematic division of the street kiosks and Little Miss Dinagyang. The float for the Kasadyahan parade is already a requirement for the participating tribes.

The Kinaiyang Kalan-on is a showcase of native foods and delicacies from all over Iloilo and Panay. The neighboring towns of Iloilo City would be invited to join the food festival. In previous years, the restaurants and hotels which are members of the Iloilo Hotels Restaurant and Resorts Association (IHRRA) dominate in the food festival.

The sweepers who takes care of all the thrash after each tribe performance would be given importance in the 2009 Dinagyang festival. Sweepers would be detailed in each performance area to collect and clean the area for the next performer.

In the concept, the |street sweepers from the General Service Office (GSO) will dance between tribe performances. The GSO will provide a choreographer for the “dancing sweeper.”

Meanwhile, the delay in the organization of the executive committee and the working committees for the 2009 Dinagyang celebration hampers the promotion of the festival. Days before the launching on Friday, not much publicity was given to the 2009 festival.

The festival was adjudged as the best tourism event of the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines (ATOP) for three consecutive years, placing the festival in the hall of fame

With the delay in the promotion, it is uncertain on whether the festival will live by its name as the best tourism event in the country.

source: thenewstoday.info

This is a short video teaser of Dinagyang 2009 created by ABS-CBN Iloilo Network.

The candidates of Miss Dinagyang will be given the opportunity to be carriers of the social, cultural and educational advocacies to showcase Ilonggo’s beauty in diversity in a move to attract more tourists to the city.

The search is one of the highlights of Dinagyang Festival, the city’s premier tourism extravaganza celebrated every fourth week of January.

The festival is a Hall of Fame winner after having been selected by the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (Atop) as the best tourism event in the country for the last three years.

For this year, the organizers will introduce an innovative search component where candidates will create their own gown made from recycled paper embellished with indigenous materials in deference to the green environment program of the City Government.

The candidates for Miss Dinagyang 2009 are

1. Luisa Ace Lambito, 16 years old of Savior International School
2. Jocelyn Caceres, 20, of Western Institute of Technology
3. Stephanie Juanitas, 20, of the University of Iloilo
4. Rapunzel Crystal Palma, 18, of WVSU
5. Wena Amor Paurillio, 19 of Maasin, Iloilo
6. Natalie Grace Roberts, 17, of CPU
7. Sheryl Maye Manalo, 19 of CPU
8. Marie June Bebing, 20, of University of San Agustin
9. Karla Dawn Yaneza, 18, of WVSU
10. Kharessa Jyanne Simoy, 21, USA
11. Ma. Soriel Sorel, 19, of WVSU
12. Geline Antonette Cabrera, 18 of CPU
13. Kathlene Gamboa, 18, of CPU

Angelicum Shool Lighting ceremony or ‘Siga Boom’ was held during  December 14, 2008. Together with the simultaneous lighting of the decorative christmas lights is the colorful fireworks display. Here are some images capture by my SE cellphone.