DepEd-Iligan Chorale wins 2018 Higalaay Choral Competition

Iligan City's DepEd-Iligan Chorale was declared as champions of this year's Higalaay Choral Competition on Tuesday, August 21, in Centrio Ayala Mall event center. Present in the photo (center) is the Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones. (Jo Ann Sablad)
Iligan City's DepEd-Iligan Chorale was declared as champions of this year's Higalaay Choral Competition on Tuesday, August 21, in Centrio Ayala Mall event center. Present in the photo (center) is the Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones. (Jo Ann Sablad)

THE Department of Education (DepEd) division of Iligan City has won as champions during the 2018 Higalaay Choral Competition on Tuesday, August 21, in Centrio Ayala Mall, Cagayan de Oro City.

According Nimfa Lago, Iligan City Division Office assistant schools division superintendent, they did not expect to win the competition for this is the first time they organized a choral group and they only had a month of preparation.

“One month from the audition of the participants up to the practice and there was only once nga nag general rehearsal,” Lago said.

“But then we are so very happy and parang hindi kami makapaniwala (it’s like we can’t believe it) but we really believe in our participants and of course the conductor, the one who trained our participants,” she added.

Apart from Iligan City's DepEd-Iligan Chorale, Cagayan de Oro City's Golden Crescendo also won first runner up, followed by Lanao del Norte's D'Voice of Lanao, who won second runner up.

Cagayan de Oro Schools Division Superintendent Jonathan dela Peña has expressed joy and was proud upon knowing that Cagayan de Oro made it in the top 3.

“Dugay na gyud ni na organize ang choral group. Unya last year nag attend sila gyapon, same competition. Karon lipay gyud ang atong Golden Crescendo ang tawag kay top 3 diba? (The choral group has been organized for a long time. Last year they also attended the same competition. Now I’m happy that our Golden Crescendo is in the top 3) One of the three best chorales in the whole Northern Mindanao. So lipay kay ko (I’m happy),” Dela Peña said.

“Daghang salamat sa pag-support sa music festival ug (Thank you for supporting this music festival and) congratulations sa (to) Golden Crescendo, ang (the) choral group sa (of) Cagayan de Oro City, for making it as first runner up,” he added.

Divisions of Gingoog City, Camuguin, Oroquieta City, Valencia City, Misamis Oriental, Malaybalay City, Misamis Occidental, El Salvador City, Tangub City, Ozamiz City and Bukidnon also won consolation prizes.

Higalaay Choral Competition, now on its second year, is an initiative of DepEd-Northern Mindanao which aims to unite the 14 divisions of the region.

“Ang purpose ani maoy ma promote ang (The purpose of this event is to promote) Cagayan de Oro City isip (as the) City of Golden Friendship, tapos gusto pud sa (and it is also the aim of) Cagayan de Oro City, being the center and the gateway of Northern Mindanao, nga i-unite ang (to unite the) 14 divisions, provincial and city divisions,” Dela Peña said.

He added that as far as he knows, Cagayan de Oro is the only city in Northern Mindanao that initiated this kind of event which garnered the approval of DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones, who is also a music-minded individual and the head of the Manila Concert Choir.

City Fiesta Executive Committee Head Eileen San Juan, for her part, said they did not expect for the event to turn out to be this big, especially with the large number of audience and participants it gathered.

“Actually itong (this) choral competition, we did not expect it this big and I was just looking at the audience and the number of participants, this is really a running in the 2000s. So this is really a crowd drawer,” San Juan said.

She also mentioned that there will be more activities this coming weekend which will gather more people in the city.

“So we all just hope that everything will be successful as far as all of the events and it will be a peaceful fiesta also,” San Juan said.

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