KAPATAGAN, Lanao del Norte –- The Kapatagan town in Lanao del Norte province held a 23-kilometer first "Budbud" (elongated rice cake) festival on Wednesday.
Town Mayor Benjie Y. Baguio told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro that being the rice bowl of Lanao del Norte it is the town’s way of giving thanks for peace and abundance in 2015.
Some 33 barangays of Kapatagan joined in the festival.
Kapatagan and Lala towns produce large supply of rice in Lanao del Norte to include black organic rice.
Baguio said each barangay has its budget allocation for the ingredients for the desired number of budbud.
Councilor Walter B. Lantaca, chairperson of the 1st "Budbud" festival, disclosed that the municipal council approved the budget of P264,577.50 for the ingredients. These include 2,750 kilos of sticky rice (pilit) equivalent to 65 sacks, 1,375 kilos of sugar, 550 kilos of ginger and 82.5 kilos of salt.
Lantaca did not specify how many liter of fresh coconut milk were consumed to complete the budbud mixture.
The 33 participating villages composed of 50 persons from each community or a total of 1,650 residents that produced the cooked "budbud" while the other member volunteers setup wooden cross arm where an elongated small cut bamboo poles were placed to display the budbud from Kapatagan town toward the border of Zamboanga del Sur.
Commuters and individuals got to taste the budbud served for free.
The “Budbud” has been created as the town’s annual “Kahumayan” festival is being celebrated in today’s feast of St. Francis Xavier.
Baguio wants to sustain the two festivals to promote the town’s business and tourism. Kapatagan aims to become a first class municipality in 2016.