Dinagyang scraps food festival

ILOILO CITY — While the highlight of this year’s Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City will be virtual again, the physical activities including the

food festival has been scrapped.

“Given the conditions that we have, we have to trim down from the original plan,” explained Gab Umadhay of the Iloilo City COVID-19 Team.

“We don’t want to have an event that will be a super spreader,” Umadhay added.

This is also as the national government’s task force on COVID-19 placed Iloilo City under Alert Level 3.

The festival’s various sports competitions have also been canceled.

“The basketball and volleyball tournaments are likewise canceled,” Umadhay said.

But the trade fairs are allowed as it is already ongoing and are economic drivers.

“We do not want to deprive the Ilonggos from having economic activities. We just have to make sure that minimum health protocols are observed and that limited people,” Umadhay added.

Meanwhile, Jan.14 will be the opening salvo for the Dinagyang Digital Online. It will be streamed via the official Facebook pages of the Iloilo City government, the Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc.(IFFI) and Mayor Jerry Treñas.