THE Davao City Government is targeting to bring back the vibrant festivity of the Kadayawan sa Dabaw festival via face-to-face this year as the Covid-19 restrictions continue to relax.
"We're really planning to hold the event face-to-face," City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) head Generose Tecson said during the AFP-PNP Press Conference on Wednesday morning, April 20.
In terms of the number of days, she said the organizers have yet to discuss it. But she said the city might trim it down to a week.
"'Yun pa po ang aming pag-uusapan kasi basing on the fact na not really everybody wants to go out pa rin (That is what we are currently discussing, but based on our observation, not everybody wants to go out yet)," Tecson said.
In 2019, the City Government stretched the Kadayawan celebration to an entire month.
Among the highlight events that will be returning are Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan, Pitik Kadayawan, and Pamulak sa Kadayawan.
The Tribal Village in Magsaysay Park will also be reopened to the public.
Tecson said the organizers are waiting for the executive order marking their preparation for the annual event.
Kadayawan, an annual festival in the city since 1986, shifted to virtual celebration in 2020 and 2021 due to the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The celebration of the Araw ng Dabaw, the city's founding anniversary was also affected by the pandemic, resulting in the event to also shift to digital.
However, the restrictions on mass gatherings, including meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions events were lifted since the city shifted to a less strict Alert Level 1 due to the continuing downtrend of Covid-19 cases brought about by the increasing number of vaccinated population.