Pinyasan Street Dancing Competition

My last visit to Camarines Norte literally hit two birds with one stone as we covered the 150th birth anniversary of National Hero Jose Rizal (June 19) and the Pinyasan Festival (June 15-24) which coincided with Daet‘s 428th foundation anniversary and the quadricentennial of its St. John the Baptist parish.  Daet Mayor Tito Sarion, who was a town councilor in 1993, started the town’s Pinyasan Festival. Back in the1990s, while attending a Philippine Travel Mart Convention, Tito conceived of the idea of promoting a local festival in honor of the Formosa pineapple, the sweetest variety among home-grown pineapples in Camarines Norte and a major fruit product. The festival has significantly boosted the popularity of the pineapple (its other potentials then only known by local farmers and traders) and fortified industries related to it.   Today, foreign firm Sunzu Agri-Development, Inc. has a pineapple processing plant at Brgy Caayunan in Basud while another newly-established agro-industrial firm (Flora Farms Integrated, Inc.) in Brgy. Pamorangon in Daet has ventured into the production of food and other products derived from pineapple. There is also a Pineapple Island Resort-Hotel (Calasgasan, Daet), a new bus firm (Pineapple Gold Express) and countless newly created food recipes that include pineapple as ingredient.  Neighboring Basud town and local cooperatives, with the help of the local government and national agencies, have created new fiber products and the popular pineapple pie,  a contribution to the One Town One Product (OTOP) program, harnessing local creativity in to exploring product possibilities extracted from the fruit and sustaining a now major industry.

Mayor Tito Sarrion

This year is the 19th edition of the festival and this would be my first Pinyasan. Our three-day (June 17-19) visit to Daet didn’t extend to June 23, the day of the Grand Float Parade, but we did get to see the Miss Pinyasan/Miss Daet 2011 beauty contest and the Street Dancing and Best Marching Band Competition the next day. We had just returned from our Calaguas Islands tour when Bernard, Lee, TJ and I were invited to cover the beauty contest’s Coronation Night.   From the Bagasbas Lighthouse Resort (where we were booked), we were brought first to the Terrace Grille for dinner.  Here, we espied the candidates and guest Ms. Universe runner-up Ms. Venus Raj as they were about to leave and met up with Daet Mayor Tito Sarrion.  The pageant proper was held at Provincial Gym.  Ms.  Abigail “Abby” Ortega was crowned as Miss Pinyasan.  Runners-up were Ms. Renei Victoria Almoneda (Miss Daet, also Best in Swimsuit, Festival Costume Design and Evening Gown), Ms. Nicole Anne C. Gange (Miss Tourism and Miss Photogenic), Ms. Princess Joy Burce (First Runner-up), and Ms. Erika Bianca “Ekaa” Lasay (Second Runner-up).

Miss Pinyasan/Miss Daet 2011 winners

The next day, all four of us had our lunch at the K Sarap Snack Bar along Vinzons Ave.  Right after lunch, we went out along the Vinzons Ave. (and, later, to the First Rizal Monument) to watch the Street Dancing and Best Marching Band Competition.  The winners of the Miss Pinyasan (minus First Runner-up Ms. Burce) and town officials in a float (led by Mayor Sarrion) also joined the parade.  There were also a number of karetelas bedecked with pineapples and flowers.  The winners of the Street Dancing Competition were Barangay Cobangbang (first), Barangay 7 (second) and  Barangay Lag-on (third).  In the elementary school level, the Best Marching Band Competition winners were Talisay Elementary School (first), Daet Elementary School (second) and Gregorio Pimentel Elementary School (third), while at the high school level, the winners were St. Francis Parochial School (first), Tulay na Lupa National High School (second) and San Roque National High School (third).