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CEBU CITY, Philippines - A P1-million grand prize is up for grabs in the first Pasigarbo sa Sugbo festival competition on Aug. 9, a project mounted by the Cebu provincial government to promote the festivals of towns and cities.

The festival will have a street parade and contest, drawing comparisons to Cebu City’s annual Sinulog festival in January.

Cash prizes totaling P3.7 million for the Pasigarbo are bigger, however. And each town will receive P100,000 assistance from the Capitol to ensure a good performance.

Top Sinulog contest winners for each category – Free Interpretation and Sinulog-based – win P500,000.

The Pasigarbo sa Sugbo “showdown” offers a P1-million grand prize. The winning contingent in the street dancing category will receive P500,000.

The Pasigarbo sa Sugnbo will be held in Mandaue City, with a 1.5 kilometer parade route ending in a “showdown” of festival performers at the Cebu International Convention Center.

For its first year, Capitol officials said Pasigarbo would be joined by 33 contingents from the different towns and component cities, including Mandaue, Danao, Toledo, Bogo, and Carcar cities.

Lapu-Lapu City will participate as a guest contingent.

The second place winner in the showdown will get P750,000; third place, P500,000; fourth place, P300,000; and fifth place, P200,000.

In street dancing, second place gets P300,000, while P200,000 goes to the third place winner.

The awards are on top of P100,000 each contingent will receive just for participating. A special prize of another P100,000 goes to the contingent with the best costume.

Details of the festival were discussed yesterday in a meeting at the Mandaue City Session Hall.

Elizabeth Francia, executive secretary of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, said the festival aims to expose Cebu’s towns and cities to a wider audience.

Francia said that the festival is still in its infancy so the Capitol will handle most of the expenses. Provincial officials plan to get sponsors to shoulder some of the costs in future Pasigarbo festivals.

Festival organizers said they expect thousands to watch the activity. The Mandaue City police and barangay tanods will be tapped to safeguard spectators and performers.

Francia said this will be the biggest festival the Capitol has ever sponsored.

She said the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo event held last year was a kick-off for this year’s grand celebration.

Contest judges will include Cebuanos as well as experts from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the National Center for Culture and the Arts, and other out-of-towners.

Yesterday’s meeting was attended by representatives from the city police, Mayor Jonas Cortes and wife Sarah, Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna, Capitol artistic director for festivals Junjet Primor, and representatives from the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue.