Las Piñas City launches its own food fest

MANILA, Philippines—The newest food festival was launched last week in Las Piñas by the Villar Sipag (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance) and with the support of the city’s 20 barangays (village), schools and parishes.

“Filipinos are natural food lovers. Here in Las Piñas, we also take pride in our culinary heritage and our local residents with world-class cooking skills,” said Sen. Cynthia Villar, managing director of Villar Sipag.

Her son, Las Piñas Rep. Mark Villar, formally opened the activity. In his opening remarks, he thanked the participants and guests for attending what he described as another important fiesta celebration in the metropolis.

The festival kicked off with the inter-barangay cooking competition with 20 teams submitting a dish with tahong, labong or inihaw na manok as the main ingredient.

The winning dish, which was declared the city’s “Official Native Dish,” was the relyenong labong of the Pulanglupa 2 team composed of Fatima Ebina, Leizel Cagaanan and Joanne Quines. They received P20,000 in cash and gift items.