Some roads in Lapu to close today for parade, street dancing

LAPU-LAPU City will be closing its roads along the Poblacion area to give way to the 17th Garbo sa Lapu-Lapu that will present a civic military parade and a showdown of dancing contingents and floats at noon today.

The civic military parade will be joined by city government employees, barangay officials and workers, teachers, students, the Department of Education (DepEd), Philippine Air Force, Philippine Navy, Lapu-Lapu City Police Office, private sector and non-government organizations.

Participants of the Float Higante, Pasahalad, Street Dancing and Festival Dance Queen category will also join the parade.

The participants will assemble at GY dela Cerna and S. Osmeña streets before marching towards the Hoops Dome via S. Osmeña Street at exactly 12 noon.

There will be ten participants for the float category, 12 for higante, and six barangays will be joining the Pasahalad, Search for Festival Dance Queeen and Street Dancing.

This year, the Drum and Lyre Corps category were added to make the event more festive. This category will be joined by seven teams from public elementary schools.

The winners in each category will win prizes ranging from P3,000 to P50,000, while non-winners will receive consolation prizes of P1,000 to P5,000.

The City Traffic Management System (CTMS) announced the closure of GY dela Cerna Street, JP Rizal Street, Mangubat Street, Carajay Street and S. Osmeña Street.

Vehicles from ML Quezon Highway going to the public market and Cordova may use Ompad Street, left turn to BM Dimataga Street and left turn to P. Rodriguez Street to Cordova area.

Vehicles going to Basak Tamiya from the public market have to use Maximo Patalinjug Avenue and Humay-Humay road.

CTMS head Mario Napule said they will start closing the roads at  10 a.m.  and may open it by  2-3 p.m.

Garbo sa Lapu-Lapu  Festival was started to strengthen the rapport, camaraderie and brotherhood among the members of the “Katipunan ng mga Kabataan” or the Sangguniang Kabataan and has improved each year since 2001.

The parade of floats with dancing contigents and higantes highlights the various products and assets of every barangay in the city of Lapu-Lapu.

ABC President and Gun-ob Barangay Captain Jose Dungog, head of the Garbo sa Lapu-Lapu Festival Committee, said “This festival contributes to the economy of the city.  It is our aim to let people within the city and those from afar, witness the activity and let their minds be filled with information on the products which we are very proud of, such as the guitars, seafoods, resorts and many others.