THE Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) has awarded the Best in Festival Costume title for the Sinulog 2018 search for Festival Queen to the contestant from Tribu Katbalaugan of Catbalogan City, Samar, almost two months after the competition was held.
Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, who is also the chairman of the executive committee of Sinulog 2018, admitted that there was a mistake during the awarding last January 19.
The Best in Festival Costume and the Best in Costume Design were awarded to the contestant from Tribu Kandaya of Daanbantayan, Cebu.
In a letter to Catbalogan City Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan, SFI program director Jess Anthony dela Cruz explained that under the contestants' costumes, there were two categories included, which are the Best in Festival Costume and the Best in Costume Design.
“The tabulation results showed that the Municipality of Daanbantayan, Cebu, won the Best in Costume Design category, while the City of Catbalogan, Samar, won the Best in Sinulog Festival Costume category,” dela Cruz said.
Dela Cruz personally went to Catbalogan City on March 12 to give Mary Faith Tan-Voz Libres, the festival queen contestant of the city, the Best in Festival Costume award, including the cash prize.
In a phone interview, Tan said they accepted the apology of SFI.
“I would like to commend the one holding the Sinulog Festival Queen for the courage to visit us and to personally hand over the price and title of our festival queen,” she said.
Tan said that despite what happened, they are still willing to join next year's Sinulog.
However, they are still contemplating on their final decision since they are planning to join an international festival competition. (RVC/SunStar Cebu)