A livelier, safe and meaningful Higalaay Festival this August was the assurance given by Cagayan de Oro City Hall to the public in a press briefing held hours before the festival launching at the Rio de Oro Boulevard on Tuesday afternoon.
‘Unlike last year, we have 48 parallel activities lined up for the Higalaay Festival this year (to complement our 19 core events). These activities are in line with the (Mayor Rolando) Klarex (Uy) administration’s RISE development agenda and (are geared) towards (enticing) more tourists outside of the city (to join our festivities),’ said City Tourism Officer Rico Libre during the press briefing held at the City Tourism Hall.
City Councilor and City Council tourism committee chairman Jay Roa Pascual said as much, explaining that Mayor Klarex allocated a bigger budget for this year’s Higalaay Festival to ensure a more vibrant, enjoyable month-long festival experience for both Kagay-anons and visitors alike.
‘We’ve planned a (calendar-filled program of) activities that will cater to as many interests as possible,’ Pascual said in Visayan.
Both Libre and Pascual acknowledged that President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.’s order lifting the nationwide state of public health emergency will encourage more people especially those from neighboring towns in Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon provinces to join in the city fiesta celebration.
‘Now that COVID-19 is mostly under control, we expect and hope that more tourists come to the city,’ Pascual said.
Libre said they met with officials and representatives of the city’s hotels and restaurants last May to discuss on their promotional activities such as special rates for tourists attending the city’s fiesta activities.
He also said they are coordinating with law enforcement agencies to secure the city’s fiesta celebration, including the enforcement of temporary signal jamming for security purposes.
‘(Our security plans) are based on the recommendations of our police and Task Force Oro including NICA (National Intelligence Coordinating Agency). For our security and safety, it depends largely on public cooperation since we cannot depend all the time on the police,’ Libre said.
For Tuesday afternoon’s festival launching at Rio de Oro Boulevard, Pascual urged the public not to bring children for their own safety.
‘That would only preoccupy the attention of the parents and God forbid, in case of an emergency, (their safety will be compromised),’ Pascual said, adding that drinking at the venue of the launching was prohibited.
Later during the press briefing, various representatives and organizers of core and parallel events issued their respective invitations to the public.
(News and photo courtesy of Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)