Kadayawan. The most colorful, vibrant festival in Davao celebrating nature's bounties and the 11 Ethno-linguistic tribes of the region. It’s a month-long festivity for the city and the drum beating before August 1st incites excitement among the locals. Establishments gear up with promotions, whip up tribal-inspired cuisines, concerts are scheduled, plantitos and plantitas will have a field day with the plant fairs and the abundance of fruits will be piled like peaks rivaling the Mt. Apo in its splendor.
Oh Kadayawan, it’s nice to have you back! The couple of years have not been kind to you and your revelers. Though you were observed online, it was different. You were with us yet not with us. Your spirit was somehow dampened by that spiked orb. We prevailed and here you are again back where you should be—on the streets!
And I live beside the most happening street! The culminating weekend of the festival proper is when the two big events transpire —the Indak-Indak sa Kadayawan, the street dancing, and the Pamulak sa Dalan, the floral parade. Both competitive events participated by local and regional contingents kick off in my area.
Since moving to my own private space a few years back, I have a front row seat to the Kadayawan action. I catch it from my window, and living on the high floors, I get a bird’s eye view of the parades (and the daily gorgeous sunrises that make me jump off bed to take shots of). Imagine being at the center of the action and above it all? Although the action on street level can be very exhilarating, this old (plus lazy and still apprehensive of being in large crowds because of COVID) soul prefers the comfort and coolness of the indoors.
For the past years, I’ve been “covering” the parades my way—from my unit’s window, using my ever-dependable mobile phone (grasped tightly, lol). I share what happens on social media ASAP. It’s the next best thing to live coverage, don’t you think?
Now, the other important thing is the speed of posting online. After one or two contingents are captured on video, I share it on social media. The loading has to be fast so I can get shots of the next contingent. This is one of the moments I truly appreciate my internet provider, PLDT Home. At high MBPS speeds, uploading the 30-seconds or four-minute videos is very fast, and the camera is once again pointed towards the street to record the coming parade participants. Never a moment missed!
For the 37th episode of the Kadayawan, I was able to share four Indak-Indak videos and 15 of Pamulak sa Dalan on Facebook. It was viewed, appreciated and shared by friends who didn’t have any access to the parade. I joined the many other sources of information during this festive event. What I share though is a different point of view—from the higher ground, where I can see if the choreography is executed with perfect synchronicity (grin).
PLDT Home has kept my lonesome self company during the pandemic. When communication for work and family was through digital connection, and most importantly, accessing entertainment via the internet throughout the lockdown period, PLDT Home was with me. Zoom meetings, emailing, FaceTime videos, streaming movies on Netflix and YouTube was a breeze—no interruption, no static connections. The access to all that is important kept me connected — and sane!
Did you know that PLDT Home is consistently named the Philippines’ fastest broadband, besting all major internet providers in the country, as it wins for the fifth consecutive year at the Ookla Speedtest Awards Q1-Q2? PLDT Home also clocked the top speeds in 15 major areas in the Philippines including Davao with 79.35 Mbps download and 79.10 Mbps upload speeds.
Thank you PLDT Home!
Also published in the SunStar Davao newspaper.
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