CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY , Philippines – Bugo National High School declared as champion in this year’s Higalaay Carnival Street Parade held on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 26, besting 10 other contingents.
Mamabuaya National High School and Macabalan National High School placed first runner-up and second runner-up, respectively.
The competition started at Luna-Velez Sts. and ended up at the Rodelsa Circle in Barangay Nazareth.
The Carnival Queen and King awards went to the Mambuaya NHS.
As part of its presentation, the contingent from Barangay Patag did a short dramatization of the conflict in Mindanao. The group also brought in a military truck to the contest venue as props.
The Higalaay Carnival Street Parade is one of the main events of Cagayan de Oro’s annual feast in honor of St. Augustine, the city’s patron saint, on Aug. 27-28.
Other main events included the dragon boat race, rodeo and horse show, Ms. Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao Fashion Summit, among others.
Meanwhile, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), upon the request of City Mayor Oscar Moreno, had ordered telecommunications companies to cut off their signal for three days during the holding of major activities from Aug. 26-28.
In his Aug. 24 memorandum, NTC Commissioner Gamaliel had directed Globe Telecom Inc., Smart Communication Inc., Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc., and ABS-CBN Convergence Inc. to “temporarily cut off all network services along the routes of the following Higalaay Festival 2018 activities.”
The telecommunication services were suspended during the Higalaay Festival Carnival Street Parade on Aug. 26, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Float and Civil Military Parade on Aug. 27, from 7 a.m to 12 noon; and religious procession on Aug. 28. From 4 a.m. to 8 a.m.
In a comment, he made in response to a complaint posted by a netizen on social media, Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo) spokesperson Supt. Mardy Hortillosa had apologized for the jamming of the cellphone signal.
“We are very sorry to cause this inconvenience to all,” Hortillosa said, “but our safety can’t be paid with our convenience. It’s better to sacrifice for a little bit rather than to suffer the consequences that we will regret for all of our life.”
“It’s very easy to say it now that this idea is not good but try to imagine if there will be unexpected terroristic attack that will happen in the city just because we failed to do this? Hope that everybody will understand that safety and security is better than convenience,” he added.(davaotoday.com)
