Utzurrum: Suroy Suroy goes westward

Chinggay V. Utzurrum
The scene

THIS time, the very successful Suroy Suroy Sugbo series stretched to Cebu’s Midwest, which is composed of six municipalities and one city. On a sunny June morning, June 12, Independence Day to be exact, four buses took the picturesque route, via Carcar.

Aloguinsan was the first stop, and amazing was the welcome accorded Gov. Gwen Garcia, who entered the vast seascape via a batel. Then the dancers performed under the scorching sun but enjoyed every bit of it, seeing how the visitors applauded!

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Hectic was the itinerary, as barely had we “seen” Aloguinsan than we were whisked to Pinamungajan where the entertainment took place at Hidden Valley Resort in Lamac.

Perched atop a hilly terrain, the guests had to exercise their limbs to climb to the top. It was the fiesta in Toledo City and what better way to celebrate than to present a mini-Sinulog at the populated city plaza, where city mayor Arlene Zambo welcomed one and all.

It was a super-rainy evening when we touched Balamban and regretted we missed the fabulous dinner prepared by the town officials, headed by First Lady, Rosie Binghay. But we did get to tour the impressive Tsuneishi shipping facilities, of the Japanese-Filipino tandem the next day.

Asturias spread out the red carpet via a trek to Lake Buswang, the pride of the town. A colorful boathouse held a sumptuous buffet, with a carabao show for all to see!

The town of Tuburan got its name from the prevalent springs, which abound, creating a cool ambience. With this backdrop, the local maidens performed a number. We were pleasantly surprised to meet Val Sandiego in Barangay Maravilla of Tabuelan.

Here we were led to a quaint summerhouse, from where we watched the Sandagat – Santo Niño Sa Dagat festival, featuring dancers on a floating stage!

Our final night was spent at the town plaza, where the Sandiegos once more, regaled us with an after dinner extravaganza! Wow!