Digos City treats 6,000 residents to eat-all-you-can lechon

Pigs roasting in a pit at the Rizal Park in Digos City. (Photo by ELDIE AGUIRRE / Inquirer Mindanao)

DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur, Philippines — The city celebrated its 19th founding day on Sunday, Sept. 8, by treating 6,000 of its residents, among them the poorest of the poor, to an eat-all-you-can free lechon at the Rizal Park here.

Mayor Josef Fortich Cagas said they distributed tickets to residents of the city’s 26 barangays to highlight the city’s 19th founding year.

“Actually, we planned to give 12,000 tickets to our residents but due to lack of time and available venue we opted to cut the number [by half] so that every ticket holder can be accommodated,” Cagas said.

Ticket holders ate the lechon in four batches at the Rizal Park here from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Each batch was given only 25 minutes to eat as much as they could of the tasty lechon.

The feast started as soon as the culmination program at the park ended.

For years now, this city has been known for its famed “Litsonan sa Kadalanan,” where lechon sellers line Magsaysay Park here with more than 800 roasted pigs for sale, still being cooked in the pit and guaranteed to make mouths water.

Commercial traders of roasted pigs usually start cooking at dawn of Sept. 8 to serve early buyers.

Davao del Sur Gov. Douglas Cagas, who joined the celebration for the first time, said it was high time for the city to drum up the local lechon industry and boost the city’s tourism potential.

More than 10,000 people joined the weeklong festivities that opened on Sept. 2.

/atm