Press Release
May 16, 2014

1st Las Piñas food fest launched

Coinciding with the festival month in the Philippines, the newest food festival was launched in Las Piñas City yesterday.

Spearheaded by the Villar SIPAG (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance), the festival was supported by the city's 20 barangays, schools and parishes.

"Filipinos are natural food lovers. Here in Las Piñas, we also take pride in our culinary heritage and our local residents with world-class cooking skills," said Sen. Cynthia Villar, managing director of Villar SIPAG.

Formally opening the festivities was Las Pinas Rep. Mark Villar. In his opening remarks, he thanked participants and guests for witnessing the historic launch of what promises to be another important fiesta celebration in the metropolis.

The festival kicked off with the inter-barangay cooking competition. Twenty competing teams submitted a dish with tahong, labong, or inihaw na manok as main ingredient. The dishes were prepared to have relevance to the history or local stories in Las Piñas.

The winning dish and declared as the city's "Official Native Dish" is Relyenong Labhong from the team of Pulanglupa 2, composed of Fatima Ebina, Leizel Cagaanan and Joanne Quines. They received P20,000 cash and gift items. They now also own the title as "Las Piñas City's First Official Dish Creator."

First runner up is from Pamplona 3, showcasing the dish Lasugpong in Coconut Milk Salsa. They received P15, 000 and special prizes. Second runner up and winner of P10,000 cash is from Talon 5 with their pride dish Pescado Con Salsa de Pimienta Verde.

During the program held at Villar SIPAG, C-5 Extension Road, Pulanglupa Uno, a cooking demonstration was shown by the St. Francis of Assisi College of Las Piñas and Las Piñas Manpower Training Center.

Spectators were also treated to a flairing exhibition by the West Bay College and a fruit carving exhibition by Chef Billy Anislag of the Chefs and Food Service Community of the Philippines.

"Umaasa kami na ito ang simula ng isang food festival na aabangan at dadayuhin hindi lamang ng mga Pinoy kundi ng mga banyagang turista. We hope to be able to create a dish that will be known worldwide as distinctly Filipino," the senator said.

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