Regatta de Zamboanga set today
The R.T. Lim Boulevard will be the site of entertainment today, October 4, as powerful and colorful vintas compete with each other for the title in the annual Regatta de Zamboanga, a mainstay in the Zamboanga Hermosa Festival.
Some 130 entries or participants, mostly coming from far flung barangays have registered for the competition, organized by the city government of Zamboanga.
Most of the participants are motorboat operators coming from the different coastal barangays in the city and every year the number of contestants is increasing, a proof of regatta’s popularity.
Senator Manuel Villar is scheduled to plane in this morning to keynote the Regatta set to start at 8 a.m. He was also the guest during the same event last year.
Mayor Celso Lobregat said huge cash prizes and other incentives are at stake for the winners in the competition.
Regatta showcases colourful and beautifully designed vintas, which has become one of the cultural symbols of Zamboanga. It is a competition of guts, power and strength.
While in Zamboanga, Sen. Villar will also grace other activities lined up for today that includes the groundbreaking rites for the Mampang cemetery and the turn over and blessing of the new Talon-talon national high school building. He will return to Manila in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Zamboanga Hermosa Festival kicked off October 1st with Cosechas de Zamboanga, an agricultural trade fair at the Plaza Pershing and the Wow Zamboanga, a cultural presentation featuring the different barangays at the Paseo del Mar every 6 p.m.
The celebration is composed of an all encompassing and complete activities ranging from sports, culture and arts, social services, agriculture and fishery trade fair, conventions and congresses and most importantly, religious activities---that highlight the multi-cultural heritage of the city.
Zamboanga Hermosa is in honor of Nuestra Senora La Virgen del Pilar, the city’s patron saint, whose feast day is on October 12.
October 12, declared as a holiday in Zamboanga is devoted to religious activities. (Sheila Covarrubias)