By Rommel F. Lopez
Indak-indak sa Kadalanan street dancing competition during the Kadayawan Festival (file photo from Davao City website)
Davao City – President Rodrigo Duterte has declared Aug. 16 as a special non-working holiday in the city.
Proclamation 774 states that the declaration was in response to the city council’s request “to enable the people of the City of Davao to celebrate” the annual weeklong Kadayawan Festival and the Indigenous People’s Day.
Executive Secretary Saldavor Medialdea issued the proclamation in behalf of the chief executive.
The Kadayawan Festival is annually celebrated during the third week of August. It is the city’s own version of a thanksgiving festival. The forerunner of the Kadayawan was the “Apu Duwaling Festival”, a portmanteau the famous icons of Davao: Mount Apo, Philippines’ highest peak; Durian, the King of Fruits; and Waling-waling, the Queen of Orchids. The festival aimed to promote the city to investors and tourists. President Duterte, who was then the city mayor, renamed “Kadayawan sa Davao” in 1988. Kadayawan takes its name from the friendly greeting “Madayaw” and from word “dayaw”, meaning good, valuable, superior or beautiful.
The highlight of the festivities is the “Indak Indak sa Kadalanan”( Street Dancing), a choreographed and theatrical street-dancing completion of the different regions of Mindanao in indigenous garbs and cultural performances and the Pamulak sa Kadayawan (Floral Float Parade) a float parade and competition featuring the rich lush flora of the region.