By Marie Tonette Marticio
ORMOC CITY – Mayor Richard Gomez and Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez promise a bigger, more festive Piña Festival this year.
(PHOTO COURTESY OF MAYOR RICHARD GOMEZ / FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
To be held on June 23, the street dancing festival pays homage to the city's patron saints, Peter and Paul, and will feature Ormoc's queen pineapple, deemed as one of the sweetest in the world.
"We have a lot of people working together, a lot of civic groups trying to help out on this fiesta and organizations who want a big and fun event for Ormocanons and our visitors," Gomez said.
Ten schools are competing in the street dance contest. The champion will receive P500,000, the second placer P400,000 and the third placer P300,000.
The mayor said the city has budgeted P22 million for the festival and other activities during the month-long celebration.
"We don't mind spending money because we want the people to be happy, also to increase the economic activity in the city for more businesses to come in," Gomez said.
Last year, more than 790,000 people travelled to Ormoc for the festival.