KADAYAWAN Festival director Gatchi Gatchalian Jr. bared that the budget for this year’s celebration coming from the private sector has gone down to P27 million from its original budget of P35 million.
“We are adjusting some costing and the event organizers cooperated to manage the budget that we have. We all do this festival for the love of Davao so more visitors will appreciate what we do,” Gatchalian said.
A total of P42 million has been budgeted for this year’s festivity. The P15 million will be provided by the city while the P27 million was raised by the private sector.
Gatchalian said they are closer to their target with the outpouring of support from companies including SM Development Corporation, Philippine Air Lines, Smart and San Miguel Brewery.
“We’re more than P20 million already in terms of partnership that is just the cash support considering pa ‘yong ex deal component like PAL supported us with cash and plane tickets which can be used for our judges kasi most of our judges are from out of town,” he said.
He said they did not get judges from Davao City to uphold fairness and avoid issues. So through the help of the partner establishments such as the Marco Polo Davao that will shoulder the accommodation of the judges and the PAL for the carrier, they were able to have an ex deal.
"We’re optimistic na we’re inching closer to our target na napababa namin,” he said.
The Pag-Abli sa Kadayawan opening ceremonies is set on August 10 at Magsaysay Park with new events and attractions.
Some of the events this year are Pitik Kadayawan Drumbeating Contest, Habi Kadayawan Fashion Accessories Design competition, Mugna Kadayawan Doodling Contest, Dragon Boat Festival, Sayaw Kadayawan and Tunog Kadayawan songwriting competition.
The usual Kadayawan highlights include Indak Indak sa Kadayawan, Pamulak sa Kadayawan, and Hiyas sa Kadayawan – the festival will introduce Kadayawan Ball, Kosplay Kadayawan, Kadayawan Farmers’ Market, and Kadayawan Village Walking Tour.