Millions of people participated in Cebu City last January 19,2020 to celebrate the

Sinulog Festival, one of the most famous festivals in the Philippines. It was attended not
only by Filipinos, but people coming from different parts of the globe also we went to
witness the celebration. As we roam around the City we got a chance to enter the
contingents stay hall and gain some information about the group, "Lumad Basakanon"
of San Nicolas. Rhemicka Teleron takes part as their festival queen and agreed to be
interviewed by our team.
According to her, they enter the Sinulog 2020 not just to compete but also to offer
a dance for the holy child, Sto. Nino with the theme "the old San Nicolas" feauturing the
farmlands that used to be found in their area but now, it can no longer be found. They
are 400 members all in all and they start their preparation since November with the help
of their choreographer, Elmer Juju Labella.
Their costume is sewed by her brother Michael Teleron and designed by her
father, Backeler Teleron and it is mixed with brand new and recycled materials. They
struggle a lot in preparing their performance but despite of the challenges they are into,
it paids off for they were the overall champion of the ritual dance category with an
additional award, best in costume and best in musicality.
We also got the chance to interview another contingent representing Lapu - Lapu
City the "Tribu Lapu - Lapu" member Daisy Jane Paquibot. According to her, Lapu -
Lapu City entered sinulog 6 years ago and it's their grand comeback, and todays group
is built last November 2019 with 96 dancers and 300 plus props men.
Most of their members are kids and they were managed by Dr. March Mandal
who is also their choreographer, and the reason why they joined the Sinulog
competition is not only just to compete to the other Cities but also to offer the holy child,
Sto. Nino. Their theme is adopted from a Brongcalo dance step which is for their ritual
and mixed with a mobile legend concept for it fit to the timely generation and they used
a brand new costume.
They prepared for more than 1 month and the challenges they encountered are
not being complete in times of the practice but still they overcome it all. Their challenges
also paids off for they were in the 3rd place for the dance competition and 3rd in
musicality of the Sinulog sa Lalawigan category last January 12, 2020, and was the 5th
placer of the Sinulog 2020 Free Interpretation category. Kodus to all the contingents
especially to those who gave time to us, one thing we've learned is that the road to
Sinulog Festival 2020 may not be a smooth one for we encountered a lot of challenges
doing the activity. However, things were successfully smoothed out and that rough road
eventually led to a stunning successful celebration and in the end that is all that matters.