15 dancers suffer heat cramps in Lanao del Norte town festival

Colorful ‘gakits’ highlight during the 21st Hugyaw sa Kadagatan Festival in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte. FILE PHOTO/Divina M. Suson

KAUSWAGAN, LANAO DEL NORTE — As the heat index rose to an estimated 40 degree Celsius here on Wednesday, April 24, at least 15 dancers in the 23rd Hugyaw sa Kadagatan (sea dancing) festival to celebrate the 76th founding day of this town were down due to heat exhaustion.

The dancers, who performed under the hot sun unprotected for more than three hours, were still at their bamboo rafts around 11 a.m. after their performance when they suffered from heat cramps one after another, officials said.

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This prompted the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel to help bring the exhausted dancers to the boardwalk, where emergency responders on standby came to their rescue.

Dr. Arthur Dale Laguerta, municipal health officer, said the medical team applied a cold compress and hydrated the exhausted performers. He said some of the performers experienced stomach pain and difficulty breathing while still others were brought to the Kauswagan Provincial Hospital for treatment.

Laguerta said that the heat index in the area on Wednesday was estimated to have reached 40 degree Celsius, which was already considered a dangerous level.

As of 10 a.m. on Thursday, however, Laguerta assured everyone was already safe.

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The town’s sea dancing festival was held at the town’s boardwalk by the sea, considered the longest boardwalk in Northern Mindanao, where people congregated to watch the different performers dance aboard lavishly decorated floating rafts at sea. Each raft featured at least 25 dancers onboard.

The festival came on the eve of the town’s 76th founding anniversary on Thursday, April 25, a celebration of the town’s bountiful harvest from both the marine environment and farmlands.

Mayor Rommel C. Arnado said that the once war-torn town had made a turnaround because of his Sustainable Integrated Kauswagan Development Peace Agenda (SIKAD-PA), which encouraged former combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to learn and practice organic farming.

Arnado said that just last year, the town established its own Kauswagan International Organic Convention Center to serve as a training ground for organic farming in this part of the country.