ILOILO CITY, Iloilo -- New Yorkers will get a taste of Iloilo's Dinagyang Festival, as this city's premiere festivity has been invited to perform in New York City during the Philippines' Independence Day celebration there this June, said Mayor Jerry Treñas.

A New York Dinagyang performance may just be what Iloilo City needs to further promote this central Philippine city and attract more tourists and investors, the mayor said.

For more than a century, New York has been one of the world's major centers of commerce and finance. It is rated as an "alpha world city" for its global influence in media, politics, education, entertainment, arts, and fashion.

New York City, the most populous city in the United States and among the largest urban areas in the world, is also a major center for foreign affairs, hosting the headquarters of the United Nations.

The 2008 Independence Day celebration of Filipinos in New York is expected to be the biggest in the United States, said Treñas.

The accommodation of the Dinagyang performers will be shouldered by the Filipino community in New York but Treñas said City Hall will be scouting funds for the performers' traveling expenses, estimated to reach P2 million.

"We have to finance the performers' visas, travel, and other incidental expenses," Treñas said.

The city government is banking on the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to help, the mayor said, noting that DOT and Pagcor provided financial assistance to the Dinagyang tribe that traveled to Texas last year.

Treñas said DOT shelled out P500,000 while Pagcor gave P1 million. The Iloilo Dinagyang Festival Inc. also spent half a million pesos.

Treñas said about 20 performers from the winning Dinagyang tribe in the festival held last January will be sent to perform in New York.

This year's Dinagyang tribe competition champion is Tribu Paghidaet of the La Paz National High School. It was also declared Best in Performance, Best in Choreography, and Best in Costume.

The Dinagyang Festival last January, said Treñas, was the most successful in the over three decades that it has been held in Iloilo City. "I was expecting it would be great, but (it went) really beyond my wildest expectations. I never imagined the (huge) crowd," he said.

The Dinagyang Festival, held every fourth Sunday of January to celebrate the Feast of the Sto. Niño (Child Jesus), is known for its lively performers and their colorful costumes, unique drumbeats, and choreography.