Kidapawan seeks new name for delayed fruit festival

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines — This southern city’s annual festival will be renamed so that celebrations can continue despite the scarcity of fruits this year due to changes in climate and infestations of pests. Organizers have decided to revive the Kalibungan Festival as a replacement for the Fruit (Timpupo) Festival. Kalibungan was the original name for the annual festival of Kidapawan. Three years ago, the city adopted the name Fruit Festival as the city started to gain recognition as the fruit basket of the country due to bountiful harvests of rambutan, durian, lanzones and mangosteen. Later on, the celebration was renamed Timpupo (harvest time) Festival where week long celebrations were held highlighted by “thousands of kilograms of fruits" displayed along the stretch of the city’s highway and offered for free. Festivities for the Timpupo were usually held on the months of August or September. On the second quarter of this year, the City Agriculture Office (CAO) said the celebrations of the Fruit Festival will be delayed as most of the fruits trees showed no signs of bearing fruits. The CAO blamed the extreme changes in weather conditions as typhoons that hit the country caused considerable drop in temperature. Add to this the infestations of the mussel scale insects that started attacking lanzones trees last year. Mussel scale insects suck dry every inch of lanzones leaves. Farmers lost million of pesos in damage and some are now considering replacing their fruits with rubber trees. Organizers have yet to decide on the final date of the staging of Kalibungan Festival this year. Kalibungan is a manobo word meaning “merry making". It is a thanksgiving celebration of the natives of this city consisting of Bagobos, Manobos and Atas who offer several dances, and other rituals as a manifestation of their thanks to their dieties. It is highlighted by street dances, horse fights and athletic competitions. - GMANews.TV