SINULOG grand parade Chocolate Queen to grace Capitol’s P500K float

Chocolate Queen Raquel Choa shows some of her chocolate products at the Casa de Cacao in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City in this October 2016 photo. (CDN FILE)

A P500,000 float will be the Cebu Provincial government’s centerpiece in its Sinulog participation.

Provincial Tourism Officer Joselito “Boboi” Costas said that they have also invited Raquel Choa, the country’s “The Chocolate Queen” who hails from Balamban, Cebu, to portray “Maria Cacao” in the float, in line with their concept of stewardship.

“We invited the cacao queen, the Chocolate Queen, Maria Cacao, Raquel Choa, because the float will portray how nature is being protected by our belief in the diwata and our higher belief in the Sto. Nino,” he said. “So it’s the concept of stewardship ang atong float, which the nature will be represented by the different endemic flora and fauna in Cebu.”

Flanking Choa’s Maria Cacao in the float will be the cast composed of dancers and percussionists, amidst a colorful array of fauna that can only be found in Cebu – a giant Cebu flowerpicker will adorn majority of the 10-wheeler truck used for the float, dominated by the bird’s colors of crimson, blue and black as well as a large replica of the Kawasan butterfly kite with moving wings.

A variety of plants endemic to Cebu will also be featured prominently on the float, including the leaves of the Cebu cinnamon tree and the flowers of the Cebu mistletoe and Hoya Bicknellii.

Costas said the construction of the float took about two weeks to complete while the conceptualization was started way back in October of last year.

He said that the over-all budget of the provincial government’s Sinulog participation is P1 million, including the float which cost around P500,000 to construct, and the participants’ costumes and food.

“The proposed budget was P1 million for our entire participation in the Sinulog,” he said. “That includes the float, that includes our uniform, that includes the meals, everything. But when we checked on how we spent the funds, wala man gyud siya nahurot. Sa float alone, we spent around mga P500,000. The float, we’ve also taken into consideration the weather – what if it rains so masayang lang so we used rubber and foam so pwede siya mabasa,” he said.

Aside from having a float entry in the Sinulog Grand Parade on Sunday, the Cebu Provincial government will also deploy around 200 volunteers coming from the different departments of the Capitol including its employees, around 40 volunteers from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) and 40 volunteers from the different towns of the province, who will be assigned to different stations along the route of the Sinulog Grand Parade on Sunday.

Costas said that Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale together with the department heads of the Capitol would grace the event.

Citing security reasons, Costas said that he cannot confirm whether or not Davide and Magpale will join the parade from start to finish but assured that they will be joining somewhere along the route.

Meanwhile, in light of the signal shutdown on Sunday, Costas said that his team already has a contingency communication system in place.

“We already have the communication system in place,” he said. “We already have 10 radios for our use that’s only around the float. But then we also have other communication system, sa disaster risk management office.”