WHAT they had was a festive celebration of the country’s 120th Independence Day.
Manila-based actor Alden Richards led the singing of the Philippine National Anthem and the Lapu-Lapu City Hymn.
Dances representing different cultural groups in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao entertained a crowd of around 7,000 people who gathered at the Liberty Shrine in Barangay Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City early on Tuesday morning.
Richards later on joined city officials led by Mayor Paz Radaza in a floral offering at the shrine where the statue of local hero Datu Lapu-Lapu stands.
Mayor Radaza said in her message that the Opononganons have so many reasons to celebrate the country’s independence.
Tuesday’s gathering, she said, was held on the very same ground where Datu Lapu-Lapu defeated Spanish conquerors led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
“Our very own local hero, Datu Lapu-Lapu was the first who showed us and the entire nation what independence is, when he and his men bravely and successfully defended our shores against Spanish conquistador Ferdinand Magellan. He (Lapu-Lapu)defended us from aggression. And we have enjoyed that freedom up until now,” Radaza said.
But true freedom, she said, is not only limited to liberation from foreign domination.
Opononganons can only say that they are truly free when they are able to fully exercise their rights and enjoy the full potentials and bounties of the city, Radaza said.
Radaza also called on Oponganons to help the city government to make the city’s seas and beaches clean and to free them from harmful and damaging activities.