By Harvey Entendez Diaz
Surigaocity.gov.ph Correspondent
September 9, 2008

	FIRST TIME, FIRST WIN. It is a very fruitful year for the contingent of Municipality of General Luna, SDN, as it wins the first place in the first time it joined the festival. Photo by Harvey E. Diaz (09/09/2008)

With elementary students as major performers, the Surigao West Central Elementary School’s contingent emerged as the grand winner in the recently concluded Bonok-Bonok Maradjaw Karadjaw Festival held Tuesday at the Surigao City National High School (SCNHS) grounds. SWCES’s “Tribu Hiyas Kalikasan” was composed of about a hundred elementary students with some twenty high school students who served as props bearers.

SWCES presented a fusion of modern and tribal dance steps which were carried out synchronously and fast by the young dancers congruent to the convergent rhythms of drums, flutes and lyres. In return, they bagged a cash prize of P250,000 and a trophy, plus three special awards: Best in Street Dancing with P50,000 and a trophy, Best in Choreography with P10,000 cash and a trophy and Best in Costume with P10,000 cash and a trophy.

Meanwhile, the Municipality of General Luna, Siargao Islands, in Surigao del Norte bagged the first place in the competition presenting its Tiyakbang Festival, which is described as a bountiful harvest of alimango (mud crabs) . This is also the first time that General Luna joined the festival.

	NEVER LEFT THE SPOT. The Jabonga Sumayajaw Festival, represented by the Jabonga National High School, wins the second place this year, its second time in two consecutive years as it won the same spot last year. Photo by Harvey E. Diaz (09/09/2008)

Other winners include Jabonga National High School (JNHS) featuring the Jabonga Festival as second place, receiving P200,000 and a trophy, and Surigao del Norte National High School (SNNHS) as third place. JNHS also garnered the Best in Instrumentality special award with P10,000 cash and a trophy.

Besides SWCES, Municipality of General Luna, JSHS and SNNHS, other contingents were Municipality of Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental, Saint Jude Thaddeus Institute of Technology in Surigao City, City of Butuan, and Municipality of Cantilan in Surigao del Sur.

The Bonok-Bonok Maradjaw Karadjaw Festival is an annual event held every September 9 in Surigao City in honor of the city's patron saint, Sr. San Nicolas de Tolentino. It is usually described as a convergence of regional festivals, as contingents are coming from different parts of the country representing their own local festivals.

	DOWN TWO SPOTS. Last year, the Surigao del Norte National High School earned the first place but it was not able to surpass or even hold its ranking in this year's festival as it is down two spots, bagging the third place. Photo by Harvey E. Diaz (09/09/2008)

Last year, the festival showdown was held in front of the City Hall due to the construction and renovation of the Surigao del Norte Grandstand. This year, former Gov. Robert Lyndon Barbers, chairman of the Bonok-Bonok Culture and Arts Foundation, chose the quadrangle of SCNHS, saying that next year Bonok-Bonok will be coming back to the grandstand where it belongs.

	ERRATA 09/22/2008 On the third paragraph above, Tikyabang Festival was wrongly called "Tiyakbang" by the author. The Tikyabang Festival was also about bountiful harvest of "kayabang" (land crabs) and not "alimango" as the author mentioned. Our apologies for the errors. We would like to thank Mr. Rodolfo E. Ravelo for bringing the matter to us for correction.