WITH the Pasko Fiesta being launched on December 1, winners of the Banda Dasig will receive as much as P300,000.
“Matawag nato ni og pinaka-highlight sa atoang Pasko Fiesta celebration because it has the biggest prize (This is one of our highlights this year for the Pasko Fiesta celebration),” Harold Quibete, Founder of HQ Productions and event organizer, said in an interview on Davao City Disaster Radio on November 30, 2022.
He said winners of each category will win P300,000 for the grand prize, P200,000 for the second prize and P100,000 for the third prize, P75,000 for the fourth prize, and P50,000 for the fifth prize, and a consolation prize will also be given to 10 winners worth P30,000.
“Nagsugod gyud ta ani nga P75,000 ra ang prize but considering the fact that kinahanglan gyud nila mogasto like transportation, accommodation, pagkaon sa mga bata, kinahanglan nato dako-dakoan gyud prize para makuha nato ang the best performers (Initially our grand prize is just around P75,000 but considering the expenses of the participants for their transportation, accommodation, and food, we need to give more to get the best performers),” Quibete said.
He added that there are performers who want to join but after finding out about the initial grand prize, opted to back out as it will not be sufficient to reimburse all their expenses for the competition.
“Tablahon ra man gud sila sa prize unya medyo tapado pa gyud sila (Sometimes they have to make up for the the expenses), although we know that are some who joined the contest out of passion but mas gwapo gyud ning makauli sila, labi na Christmas karun nga naa silay dala ug unod ilahang mga bulsa (it would be good that they will receive more, especially that it is Christmas),” Quibete said.
Aside from the changes to the pot prize money, Quibete said they have made some changes to the Banda Dasig event to accommodate different groups in one competition.
“Banda Dasig is a lighted drum and bugle, drum and lyre, drum and bell, marching and brass band competition and field demonstration, so ato siyang gi-ipon tanan karun nga naa sa linya sa pagtugtog (so we have put it into one event to accommodate all performers),” he said.
He said there will be two categories for the event – one for the Davao-based category for elementary schools and another one for the open category for high school, senior high school college, and community-based participants in Davao City as well as neighboring cities and provinces.
Quibete said as of November 30, 12 groups have already registered for the Davao-based category and 13 entries for the open category.