THIS year’s Aliwan Fiesta, which was scheduled on April 23 to 25, has been canceled because of COVID-19, Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC) said in a statement.

“Following the series of advisories issued by various government agencies with regard to health precautions for public events, we regret to inform that we are constrained to cancel this year’s Aliwan Fiesta celebrations,” MBC said in a statement emailed to BusinessWorld on Friday.

The Aliwan Fiesta started in 2003 and is organized by the MBC and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Dubbed as the “Philippines’ Grandest Fiesta,” the event aims to showcase different Filipino cultures and heritage.

Contingents from different provinces compete in three categories: the float parade, the Reyna ng Aliwan pageant, and the main competition, the cultural street dance competition where contestants perform dances from their province’s own festivals including Iloilo’s Dinagyang Festival, Cebu’s Sinulog, and Baguio’s Panagbenga and less well-known festivals such as Shariff Kabunsuan’s Padang-Padang and Rodriguez, Rizal’s Pamitinan.

The festival features a four-kilometer parade from Quirino Grandstand to the Aliw Theater grounds at the CCP area.

Last year’s street dance champion was the Pasaka Festival which is part of the Pintados Kasadyaan festival of Leyte.

“We have been closely monitoring the situation globally, and there continues to be growing anxiety about this new pandemic. We don’t know how far this will go, and the organizing committee has felt it prudent to consider public safety, and relieve children, parents, teachers, and local officials of any anxiety when the contingents travel to Manila,” the statement read.

MBC also stated that knowing that participants invest “substantial time and resources to prepare for Aliwan Fiesta,” they decided to cancel the event early because they do not want local governments, schools, and students to “make major expenditures” only to cancel the event at a later date.

“And given that Aliwan Fiesta is held during vacation time to make it conducive for students and faculty to participate, we are forced to look at the only possible window to hold it, which would be April 2021,” MBC said.

“We wish to emphasize that Manila Broadcasting Company remains fully committed to the tradition of gathering the best of the best in a grand national championship among festivals throughout the country, and we hope we can count on the continuous support of various sectors in the future staging of Aliwan Fiesta,” the company added. — ZBC

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