Garbo sa Lapu-Lapu extends to the social media

Thousands of Oponganons and devotees of the Blessed Virgin of the Rule were on hand to witness yesterday’s “Garbo sa Lapu-Lapu” cultural street dancing in front of General Milling Corp. Arcade in Poblacion.

And thousands more voted their approval of the annual Lapu-Lapu event at Facebook, where photos taken by the Lapu-Lapu City government generated more than 5,000 “Likes.”

A traffic gridlock was experienced from late morning to late afternoon yesterday especially in the roads leads to the Mactan Economic Zone 2.

Dancers in colorful costumes were cheered by spectators as they engaged in a showdown from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Aside from the street show, Mayor Paz Radaza noted the ‘virtualization’ of the festival that is now running in its 12 years.

She said the city’s official Facebook page has become a virtual “panagkot” site of the many devotees of the Birhen sa Regla particularly for those working in other parts of the country as well as abroad.

Radaza said the website will give the latest traffic advisory for the upcoming fiesta.

She encouraged everyone to capture the celebrations, take snapshots and upload photos in social media like Facebook.

“More that 5,000 Facebook users have ‘Liked’ the photos of the Blessed Virgin of the Rule, more than a thousand shared the photos and hundreds commented,” Radaza said.

Many others left a comment mostly greeting the Birhen sa Regla, a happy fiesta, she added.

“There are so many other information that you can get on our Facebook page, you can also leave a message if you have any comment or concern,” she added.

This year’s Garbo sa Lapu-Lapu only saw three street dancing contingents and nine floats from select city barangays.

In the street tableau dance contest or Pasa-halad category, barangay Maribago took the 1st place with a cash prize of P50,000, followed by barangay Buaya at 2nd place with P45,000 and barangay Poblacion at  3rd place with P40,000.

In the street dancing competition, barangay Maribago ranked first, followed by barangay Poblacion and barangay Buaya.

The float competition was won by barangay Gun-ob which received  P30,000, followed by Barangay Punta Engaño at second and a P25,000 prize money.

Barangay Babak took 3rd place and a P15,000 cash prize.

Garnering 4th was barangay Mactan, while barangay Pajo was 5th. They went home with P10,000 and P5,000 cash prize respectively.

Ms. Jasmin Florence Bachman of barangay Poblacion was declared Festival Queen.

April Rose Ann Igot of barangay Maribago and Rona Marie Lopez of barangay Buaya were 2nd and 3rd placers respectively. /Norman V. Mendoza, Correspondent