CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Some 11 barangays here, which will be competing during this year’s 110th Giant Lantern Festival (GLF) to be held on December 15 at Robinsons Starmills, received P300,000 each as subsidy from the City Government.
The participating barangays are Cululut, Del Carmen, Del Pilae, San Jose, San Juan, San Nicolas, San Pedro, Sindalan, Sta. Lucia, Sto. Nino and Telabastagan.
The subsidies were received by the barangay captains of the participating barangays over the weekend at Robinsons Starmills Pampanga.
City Tourism Officer Ching Panglinan said that this year's subsidy is higher than last year to help enable barangays to shoulder the cost of the production of the giant lanterns.
GLF Foundation President Alfrito Mah said that the event is a continuing celebration of the vibrant lantern tradition of the city. Mah said that the event will surely attract the yearly large crowds. He added that the city government and Robinsons Starmills are now doing all necessary preparations for traffic and crowd control.
Robinsons Land Corporation regional operations manager Jodee Paulette Arroyo said that Robinsons is honored to host the yearly event that brings together families and tourists from Central Luzon in a celebration of the Yuletide tradition of lantern making.
Robinsons Land Incorporated and CLTV 36 entered into an agreement to help in the promotion of the festival
The lanterns are made and funded by the community which get assistance from the City Government.
Lantern makers, electricians and ordinary folk volunteer time and effort to make the lanterns beautiful and up to competition standards.
The winning barangay will take the honor of having produced the best lantern for the season and each award is a bragging right against competing barangays.
The Giant Lantern Festival has become an annual festival held in December (Saturday before Christmas Eve) in this city. The popularity of the festival has earned the province the nickname "Christmas Capital of the Philippines."
The GLF is a competition of 10 feet to 12 feet height lanterns that are made by barangays with lantern-making traditions.
The award is seen as a recognition on top of the significance of the lantern industry here in helping local tourism and craftsmanship of local craftsmen and artisans.
What started as a lantern contest to honor and thank then President Manuel Quezon for converting Mount Arayat into a tourist resort had turned into a yearly spectacle.