Saturday, October 13, 2007 Dancing inmates on guv’s birthday bash
SEVERAL dance numbers were prepared by the world-famous dancing inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) for the 52nd birthday of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.
The show lasted more than an hour, delighting the governor’s guests that included Gangwon, South Korea Gov. Kim Jin Sun.
Aside from President Arroyo, Kim was among the VIPs that attended Garcia’s birthday celebration yesterday.
Garcia, wearing a pink business suit, arrived at the CPDRC around 3 p.m. with Governor Kim and some mayors and members of the Cebu Provincial Board (PB).
The inmates did the pass-in-review to the tune of “Do The Hustle” before their dance showdown.
They danced to the tunes of a Gregorian chant,“I Will Follow Him” and “Hail Holy Queen” of the movies “Sister Act” and “Sister Act 2,” “Haruhi” (theme song of a Japanese animation), “Ice, Ice Baby,” “Cannon in D” and “Rico Mambo.”
Shabu laboratory suspect Calvin Tan and the officers of the inmates’ council of leaders did a ballroom number as intermission.
Gift-giving
The inmates also performed their famous “Thriller” dance and a special number to the tune of “Electric Dreams,” which they prepared as a tribute to Garcia, who is “the guiding force behind the concept of the dancing inmates.”
In her past birthdays, the governor gave out gifts to inmates and this year was no different. In addition to the goods and groceries she handed out, she also gave them a prayer booklet and a rosary.
A British TV crew was among those that covered the event.
Letting the inmates dance was initially part of their daily exercise that Capitol Consultant Byron Garcia conceptualized.
The dancing CPDRC inmates became famous worldwide when Byron uploaded over You Tube their “Thriller” dance and it got millions of hits.
Their “Rico Mambo” dance was also uploaded and earned 320 hits in four days.
World famous
Different foreign and national media have visited CPDRC to cover the dancing inmates.
Garcia’s birthday celebration started with a mass officiated by Msgr. Roberto Alesna.
After the mass, the signing of four different memoranda of agreement was signed with Arroyo as witness.
Then a short program followed.
Several vice mayors and the governor’s friends also attended the affair. (MBG)
