The San Juan City local government announced that the most awaited "Wattah Wattah Festival" in the city returns on Friday, June 24, after two years of cancellation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora, the festival, well known for the dousing of water in celebration of the feast of its patron saint, St. John the Baptist, will once again be celebrated as the whole Metro Manila remains under Alert Level 1, the lowest alert level classification by the national government.

Aside from the traditional "basaan (dousing of water)," a street dancing competition, free concert, fireworks display, and procession of various saints will also be held on Friday.

“Dito sa San Juan, napakataas ng vaccination rate. In fact, 265 percent po ang ating fully-vaccinated na at tayo rin po ang nangunguna sa booster shots at 85 percent. Yung ating mga mamamayan ay protektado na ng bakuna (We already have a very high vaccination rate here in San Juan. In fact, 265 percent of our population are already fully vaccinated. We are also leading in the number of boosted individuals with 85 percent. Hence, our citizens are already protected from the virus),” Zamora said in an interview with GMA.

The mayor also reminded his constituents that despite the loosened restrictions, they should not be complacent and always adhere to the public health and safety protocols.

“Hindi pa rin ito ang panahon para magpabaya. Kinakailangan pa rin magsuot tayo ng mask dahil ang mask ay ang huling layer of protection natin sa Covid-19. Bawal po ang pag-inom. Bawal din po ang pagbasa ng maruming tubig, ganun din po ang mainit na tubig. Huwag na huwag natin gagawin ang mga bagay na makakasakit sa ating mamamayan (This is still not the time to be complacent. We still need to wear a face mask because this is our last layer of protection from Covid-19. Do not use dirty water, even hot water for dousing. Let's not do something that will hurt others)," he said.