THE Provincial Government of Misamis Oriental has officially opened this year's Kuyamis Festival and the 90th anniversary of the province Monday morning, January 6, at the capitol grounds.
The week-long celebration will highlight several activities organized by the Provincial Tourism Department head lawyer Jeffrey Saclot, which will be held in the different areas of the province.
On Monday, following the morning Holy Mass was the opening program of the 7th Kuyamis Festival led by the Governor Yevgeny Emano.
Present during the event were Department of Tourism (DOT)-Northern Mindanao Director Marie Elaine Unchuan, Gingoog City Vice Mayor Peter Unabia, Association of Tourism Officers of Misamis Oriental (Atom), and the 21 candidates of Miss Kuyamis 2020.
"When I made tourism my flagship program, people said, my adversaries especially saying 'Buang ma na si Bambi. How can tourism work in the islands of Mindanao when people are afraid to come?'" Emano, during his opening message, said.
"You know what, I told them: the more that we will promote Mindanao, Misamis Oriental, because we want to show them that not only we are ripe, hinog na ta, but we are already ready to accept development in the islands of Mindanao, especially in Misamis Oriental, because we had been very peaceful. And that is the dream," he added.
Emano also expressed concern for the future of Kuyamis Festival as he has only two more years left in his last term as governor of the province.
"How I wish that there will be more time but I only have two more years left. And if my successor will not follow the festivities of the Kuyamis Festival, it will only be until nine years," Emano said.
"And we invested already a lot of money promoting Kuyamis. And I'm not afraid to invest money because I believe we invest more now, our people will get more money later," he added.
The governor also urged the people of Misamis Oriental to work together in the year 2020.
"Kuyamis" means a variety of golden colored sweet coconuts that are smaller in size than other coconut varieties. This kind of coconuts is usually found in Misamis Oriental.