Lumad Basakanons takes 4th Aliwan Festival crown

The Hall of Famer showed them how champions are made of.

The Tribu Lumad Basakanon emerged as champion of the Aliwan Festival in Pasay City Saturday evening.

The Basakanons represented Cebu City’s Sinulog in the “battle of festival champions” organized by the Manila Broadcasting Corp.

They will bring home P1 million as champions on top of the P10,000 for being “Best in Musicality” and another P10,000 for being “Best in Costume”.

“Cebu City made history again. The Lumad Basakanon made a successful comeback, making history being the first Hall of Famer of the festival,” said Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) executive director Ricky Ballesteros.

It’s the fourth time for the Basakanons to win the championship. They had been declared the first Hall of Famer of the festival for winning three consecutive championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

They weren’t able to join in the succeeding years after organizers barred Hall of Famers from participating in the festival. The restriction was later lifted.

While they added more props to their dance to satisfy Aliwan judges, Navarro said they still focused on their dance rou-tines and choreography.

“The Señor Sto. Nino is still the highlight of our performance,” Dennis Navarro, one of the group’s head organizers,.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, Vice Mayor Edgar Labella and Ballesteros watched performance.
“It was a cloud nine level of experience. The performance was awesome, outstanding and breathtaking,” said Rama.

Cebu City’s Sinulog Festival Queen Steffi Aberasturi was also crowned this year’s Aliwan Festival Queen, also bagging other minor awards like Best in Swimwear, Best in Long Gown, Ms. Unique Smile and Best in Festival Costume.

Dalaguete town’s Utanon Festival Float also won second place in the float category.