Ormoc culminates National Arts Month 2024 celebration with 'Pagsaulog'

ORMOC CITY, Philippines — City chief executive Lucy Torres Gomez and Leyte's 4th district solon gamely moved to the beat of the Unity Dance at the close of the "Pagsaulog" (Visayan term for celebration), together with the performers and spectators, to mark the finale of the city's 45-day National Arts Month 2024 celebration.

"Cultural mapping was set in place when I was the mayor of Ormoc. The culture and arts scene of the city is so much alive. It helps us understand who we are as a people. The NCCA (National Commission for Culture and the Arts), on the other hand, simply fine-tunes what is innate in people," said Rep. Richard Gomez.

Participants from schools and local goverment units joined workshops on theater arts, music and dance in various venues days before the finale held in Ormoc City Museum's Grand Staircase grounds.

The Ormoc Sports Center and STI College Campus hosted workshops on contemporary/modern movements to ballet dancers and gave DanceSport sessions to children and persons with disabilities (PWDs), while the festival dance forum was an interaction of several street dancing choreographers.

Choreographers started as dancers before they got to design dance routines. In the medium of dance, it is body language that tells the story. Festivals are popular around the archipelago. There is always one in every LGU unit, especially during charter day celebrations.

"This is my first time to be mayor after serving twelve years as congresswoman. Our strong arts program helsp us to remember our history as people. Ormoc has a dark past. We were the drug capital of the region then. Life is hard enough. Arts soften the blow, one day at a time.

"The more we understand, the more we'll appreciate people. Sports, too, helped us rise from the darkness. And when we received accolades from the efforts of our young citizens, a more progressive Ormoc slowly took shape. We are also called a 'sexy city' because of our sea and mountains. Every Wednesday, I marry couples in my sala, where they tell me that they met the first time either in the city's sea wall or the church," said the lady mayor.

Ormoc City has been chosen as the lone official festival site for the Visayas