NO PARADE Students dressed in colorful Philippine eagle and “waling-waling” costumes join the parade to celebrate Araw ng Dabawin 2012. This year’s street parade and other public celebrations to mark the city’s 84th founding anniversary on March 1 were canceled for the second year in a row to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. —KARLOS MANLUPIG
DAVAO CITY—For the second year under the coronavirus pandemic, Davao City will celebrate “Araw ng Dabaw” on March 1 online, suspending the traditional crowd-drawing events that run the risks of spreading the disease.
Mayor Sara Duterte on Sunday urged the public to celebrate the founding day in the safety of their respective homes.
Second time
“This year is the second time we are celebrating the Araw ng Dabaw virtually—without the usual festivities and gatherings we have been accustomed to in the past,” the mayor said in a message sent to media outlets. “A lot has happened in the span of a year. We are not the same city we were in 2020, and the threat of COVID-19 is still present but … we shall overcome, as we always have, [this] adversity.”
Malacañang has declared March 1 a special nonworking holiday here to mark the celebration.
“This year, let us once again celebrate Araw ng Dabaw safely within the comforts of our own home,” Duterte said, as she invited the public to watch the 84th Araw ng Dabaw digital celebration that will be posted on the city government’s Facebook page.
‘Best of Davao’
The presentations will include art performances, food, artwork by the Davao artists, fashion and dance that will showcase “the best of Davao,” the mayor said.
Duterte said this year’s celebration would also be a tribute “to all our front-liners, to all whom we have lost this past year and to each Dabawenyo abiding by the protocols set in place to ensure each other’s safety.”
“It is our grit, our tenacity and discipline that will see us through to the end of this pandemic in the hope that one day we may safely celebrate our Araw ng Dabaw in the streets once more,” she added.