Folk dance competition at Sandurot Fiestival

Sandurot 2013 Folkdance and Harana Competition

November 22, 2013/in 2013, Galleries

The Theme “Embracing The Global Culture, Enriching Local Tradition” was brought alive during the Sandurot 2013 Folkdance and Harana competition. It is important to keep Filipino traditions alive, specially nowadays where the young generation is more into Hip Hop and Facebook.

Folk Dance Bamboo Dumaguete Sandurot Fiestival

This great event showed the beauty and significance to keep in touch with ones own roots. We hope you enjoy our pictures.

A great competition, which should not be missed next time.

Sandurot Dance Sport Competition 2013

November 21, 2013/in 2013, Dumaguete, Galleries

Due to heavy rain late afternoon, the Dance Sport Competition 2013 started with a delay of 90 minutes, a very wise decision of the organizers. The participants need for their steps a dry stage to make sure that nobody slips and ruins their performance, or even worse, getting injured. Five participating pairs were judged in Cha Cha, Chive and Rumba.

Sandurot Fiestival Dancesport-competition

Pictures of the Dance Sport Competition 2013

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As it is a competition, there need to be winners. However, for us all participants were winner. Nowadays Dance Sport is not necessarily in the focus of the young generation; therefore it was great to watch this event and the enthusiasm for dance sport of all five pairs.

Sandurot Dancesport-competition 2013

Miss Dumaguete 2013 – Talent Night

November 17, 2013/in 2013, Galleries

The Miss Dumaguete 2013 Talent Night was held last night in Quezon Park. The VIPs of Dumaguete and a good crowd witnessed the eight lovely ladies competing with their talent for the Miss Dumaguete 2013 title. The event started with only 30 minutes delay, which is already an outstanding performance by the organizer of the Miss Dumaguete 2013 event.

Dumaguete Mayor Manuel Chiquiting Sagarbarria declares the Dumaguete Fiesta 2013 opened

After the invocation and the national anthem all eight candidates presented their Festival Costumes. Following the first round, our boss, Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria was called on Stage. He did not only declare the the 65th charter day celebrations and the Sandurot Festival 2013 opened, he also announced a generous 1 Million Peso donation for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda, which devestated some areas of the Philippine archipelago last Friday.

Miss Dumaguete 2013 – Wonderful Costumes at the Talent Night at Quezon Park

After the opening ceremony the talent portion started. The audience in Quezon Park saw a great show where all candidates for Miss Dumaguete 2013 showed to be capable to wear the crown.

One word of critics might still be allowed. As it is understandable, that not all candidates have a special gift, which they can present on a stage (writing, chess or blogging as an example), they obviously need to listen to their choreographs what to present on stage.

The candidates simply relay on their choreographers. We believe those, who also get quite some money for that, should also come up with nice ideas and not warming up a performance, they made for another contest, which was held not even 2 month ago. One of the performances was a simple warm-up of a choreography of Miss Negros Oriental High School 2013, where thousands saw in a fully filled Maccias Sports Complex the exact same performance (and it wasn’t a very successful one at the Miss NOHS event either). This is not only laziness of the choreographer, it is also extremely unfair to the candidate, who probably pays good money to that person, to help her.

Miss Dumaguete 2013 – Talent Night

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The Miss Dumaguete Magic Three Best in Talent

The Miss Dumaguete 2013 was a great event and closed the first day of the Sandurot Festival 2013.
For the Schedule of Events this coming week, have a look here:

Sandurot Festival 2013 Fun Run

November 16, 2013/in 2013, Galleries

The Sandurot Festival 2013 started with the Fun Run with City Government Officials, Employees and Tourism Stakeholders. While DumagueteInfo Net Service received a schedule where the start was announced at 5:00 am, Dumaguete Tourism Office, the organizer of the whole festival published a day before that the start will be at 6:30 am. So we went to the start at 6:25, just to see that the start was already done. Because of that false information provided, we were not able to take any pictures of the start. However, we still took some of the Finish-line and the runners, which stood up early to participate.

Sandurot 2013 opening Fun Run

Enjoy the pictures of the Sandurot Festival 2013 Fun Run

All finishers which were not tired had the chance to participate in the Zumba & Healthy Dancing Session which took place just next to the finish-line of the Fun run

Zumba & Healthy Dancing Session Pictures

Dumaguete Project Santa Thursday Club at Provincial Hospital 2012

Christmas for the Kids at Provincial Hospital

October 26, 2013/in 2012, Dumaguete, Galleries

Some folks organize traditionally some special Christmas for the children, which are admitted to Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital in Dumaguete at Christmas. The guys and girls will meet on 23rd of December downtown at Casablanca Restaurant and go to the Hospital together.

Dumaguete Project Santa Thursday Club at Provincial Hospital 2012

As we couldn’t write it better, below the original post as a quote:

Project Santa 13

Have you noticed how quickly the time flies by ? Yep, me too. Every year seems to disappear a bit quicker than the one before. It seems like only yesterday that we were scrabbling around, ticking off lists, packing bags, and testing cuddly toys for the surprise visit of Santa to the children in the Provincial Hospital at Christmas. But the clock never stands still and here we are again almost halfway through the “ber” months. Two months from today will be Christmas Eve, so it’s time to kick-start Project Santa 13. Last year we provided gift bags for 150 children, from new born and premature babies to 11 years old, and we just about made the mark in quantity. So this year we will provide for 200 children. At just 200 pesos per child the Christmas fund will need 40,000 pesos. The largest group is the walking age to 5, so the breakdown of gift bags will possibly be as follows:-

New babies to pre-walking – 50 bags.
Walking to 5/6 ish unisex – 70 bags.
5/6 to 11 ish girls – 40 bags.
5/6 to 11 ish boys – 40 bags. Total 200 bags.

The age groups of those in there can never be accurately predicted as there are constant admissions and departures. So the increased quantity of gift bags for the 5/6/7 years old age bracket gives us a grey area where the child could get a gift bag from any of the categories other than new babies. All of the bags contain hygiene products with variations according to age and sex, plus games, books, colouring books, pens, yo-yo’s, dolls, cars, things that bounce and things that don’t, plus all new babies and unisex to 5/6 also have a safe cuddly toy.

I risk repeating myself here from last year, but I make no apologies for that. The children that are in there at Christmas are from the poorest and most marginalised sections of society. Most know what Christmas is, but none of them have experienced the indulgences that we take for granted in the western world. They’re sick, they’re in a strange environment, they’re in pain and they’re frightened. Some of them, sadly, may not have another Christmas. For them it’s just another day amongst the 365, and our object is to change that. It only takes an hour to hand out the gifts, but the look of surprise and excitement from the kids makes it a truly magical hour.

I’d like to emphasise, so that there can be no misinterpretation, that this is a notice of intent, simply an announcement of what we plan, and is in no way a solicitation for donations. Any help is gratefully received, but that is a matter for each individuals conscience and generosity. We kick-off today with 5000 in the pot. Come what may, I guarantee that the 40k will be there.

One hour. Free
One gift bag. 200 pesos.
One smile from a sick child. Priceless.

While surely everybody is busy to feast at the companies Christmas parties, family gatherings and so on, any kind of support is appreciated.

Just be a part of it to create a smile like on the picture below.

The Happy Santa’s Helper..

The Preparation

Roger Standley Thursday Club Shopping

The whole event does not take much longer than 1 – 2 hours. If you have any questions, want to share some of your precious time, or even have 200 Peso left to give one of those poor children a very special day, just get in touch with us via the contact form.

Check out this video with more pictures of Project Santa:

Buglasan 2013 King & Queen Competition

October 19, 2013/in 2013, Galleries

The Buglasan 2013 King and Queen Competition was as colorful as ever. While it does not draw that much attention as a “Miss pageant”, it is one of the most colorful and flamboyant events of the week-long Buglasan celebration. The costumes are breathtaking and the candidates stunning. Check out our gallery below and surely you understand what we are talking about.

Buglasan 2013 – King & Queen Competition

Congratulations to all participants

Bayawan Tawo tawo festival 2013 nice smile

Buglasan Street Dance Competition and Parade 2013

October 19, 2013/in 2013, Galleries

The highlight of each year’s Buglasan celebration in Negros Oriental is the Street Dance Competition. Of course the Buglasan 2013 Street Dance Competition made no difference. Many thousand spectators lined up on the streets of Dumaguete to watch the competitors.

The Buglasan 2013 Street Dance Competition had 6 contestants, all of them in wonderful costumes with a great choreography. Some connected to the tradition of the region, some theme-based.

It already has been a long day for the groups. They started early morning to show their performance at the Festival Showdown at the Lamberto Macias Sports Complex. After a quick lunch, re-doing the male-up and resting a bit, they lined up in Hibbard Avenue to start the Buglasan 2013 Parade.

The weather was perfect. The sun was smiling and also watching the participants as they started the parade around 2:00pm. Towards the middle of the Street Dance Parade it got a bit cloudy, what was actually nice for the performer, as their job was already hard enough. … the wonderful smiles of the lovely ladies of Negros Oriental shined more than any sun could do anyway.

Bais at the Buglasan 2013 Street Dance Competition

The first group came from Bais City with a great choreography, even high above the power-lines of Dumaguete.(Click on pictures to enlarge)

Jimalalud at Buglasan 2013

The group of Jimalalud, representing the Hambabalud Festival had probably the most colorful performance . Enjoy the pictures below.(Click on pictures to enlarge)

Santa Catalina at Buglasan 2013

The stars of Sta. Catalina were like last year the small monkeys, which rolled all over the place entertaining the guests of this year’s Buglasan Festival from all over the Philippines.

Bayawan at Buglasan 2013

Despite the flooding not long ago, the City of Bayawan joined the Street Dance Competition with a very entertaining performance, representing the Tawo Tawo Festival

San Jose at Buglasan 2013

San Jose, representing the Ayuquitan Festival was the smallest group, but showed a lot of energy which made easily up for the smaller number of participants.

Tanjay at Buglasan 2013

Last but not least came the Street Dance Group representing the Saulog Festival of Tanjay. With a lot of participants in different sections, Tanjay was a great competitor.

Winner of the Buglasan Street Dance Competition 2013

There was not only one winner, there were thousands of them. Each and every one who came to watch the Street Parade of Buglasan 2013 dancing through the streets of Dumaguete City is a true winner and surely went home with a big smile.

Apologies if a picture went into a wrong group, just write us a note and we will change that.

From our side many thanks to all the participants who performed exceptional, gave us their biggest smile and worked so hard to perform at the Buglasan 2013 Street Dance Competition.

Miss Negros Oriental Tourism 2013

October 12, 2013/in 2013, Uncategorized

Buglasan started with a great event. The Miss Negros Oriental Tourism 2013 contest was hold on the stage of Freedom Park.

Miss Negros Orienta Tourism2013

Eleven lovely candidates competed for the title.This years winner comes from Dumaguete City.

Miss Negros Oriental Tourism

The Miss Negros Oriental Tourism 2013 event was well organized and started on the spot at 8:00pm (in Filipino time. The eleven contestants greeting the audience not only with words but also with a lovely smile.

Negros Oriental Miss Tourism 2012

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The Gown Competition

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At 11:00pm (real time), Monica was crowned as the new Miss Negros Oriental Tourism 2013. Monica is a lovely young lady, which we know already since a while. Not from her participation in the Miss Dumaguete 2012, but from her support great support for a charity Christmas project we are involved. She helped us to visit the kids admitted to Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital at Christmas last year, to give each and everyone of them a Christmas gift. Truly a great ambassador for Negros Oriental. Congratulations again to

MissNegros Oriental Tourism 2013 – Monica Infant Bartsch

Miss Negros Oriental Tourism 2013 Monica Infante Bartsch

The Celebration Of ALS DAY (Alternative Learning System)

September 16, 2013/in 2013, Galleries

The exited student and teachers, walk in the street of Dumaguete City, as proud persons, as they see the importance of knowledge. With the help of Alternative Learning System (ALS) and their enthusiastic teacher they are given the chance to finishing their studies. Make them believing into themselves, that it’s not too late to learn, to improve, and prove that they still can do it, is one of the main objectives of ALS Dumaguete.

It is not too late for those people, who want to learn and achieve something in their life! Just for dreaming, wanting and working hard to finish their studies is already a positive and great start.

Doing it and doing it right, with the help of the ALS-Faculty, their own will and the encouragement of their families and friends not to stop is a great achievement.

To all students and teachers and to those people behind this Alternative Learning System (ALS), congratulations to all of you.

Some Pictures of the ALS Day 2013 in Dumaguete

ALS Day -Parade

ALS Day Program with DINS

Mr & Miss Negros Oriental High School 2013

September 2, 2013/in 2013

The Lamberto Macias Sports Complex was the appropriate stage for this years Mr. & Miss NOHS 2013 beauty pageant. Thousands of students and guests were witnessing when the winner of this year will be crowned. Like always, the pageant started perfectly in time … in Filipino time.

While we didn’t take note of the host name, he was (unlike many hosts we experienced before pretty impressive and guided through the program without any unnecessary words, wasting no time to leave the stage to those, who came to compete in the contest.

A nervous tense atmosphere which could almost be cut with a knife was present. But all preparation and practice turned out to lead to a great outcome on stage.

The lights in the house finally went out and the show began. After the national anthem and a short prayer, he announced the rules and the show could start. The stage was set to introduce five lovely ladies and five young gentlemen to the cheering audience.

Already at the very beginning of the competition was clear, that it will be a very tight competition for the Minor Awards and the Major award of Mr. & Miss NOHS 2013. Of course the talent-round could not be missed, but we had a small camera problem, and therefore not much pictures taken. Same for the Q & A session. The Highlight of the Mr & Miss Negros Oriental 2013 contest was like at each event the presentation of the evening gowns.