General Santos Festivals

General Santos City is one of the major urban centers in southern Philippines. Aside from being one of the most populous cities in the Philippines, General Santos City is also home to numerous corporations, both local and multinational, making it tone of the major centers of industry in the country. Aside from having a fertile landscape that make it a major producer of a variety of crops, General Santos City is much more well known from being a major supplier of seafood, which are touted as the freshest and the best in quality.

It is for this reason why one of General Santos’ main festivals is dedicated to one of its greatest produce. Every September, the city celebrates its Tuna Festival as a recognition of the city’s successful tuna industry and its contribution to the economic stature of General Santos City. Apart from being a unique festival due to it not being a commemoration of neither a patron saint nor some cultural heritage which is the case for the majority of the festivals done in the country, the Tuna Festival in General Santos is also unique as its conception was a spontaneous collaboration with the city’s tourism establishments as opposed to being a festival that was thoroughly planned by the city government as is the case with most Philippine festivals.

The Tuna Festival came about when the tourism association of the city organized a culinary event that featured the numerous dishes that can be made from the city’s sashimi-grade tuna. The event proved to be a hit and a potential tourist attraction and it later mutated into the city-wide celebration that it is today. Unsurprisingly, one of the major events in the Tuna Festival is its culinary events, such as cooking contests and feasts, that center on General Santos’ greatest seafood produce. The staple of other Philippine festivals are also present in the festival. Street dancing, float parades, trade exhibits, and others make the Tuna Festival of General Santos City a unique but at the same time a truly Filipino Festival.

The other major festival celebrated in General Santos City is the Kalilangan Festival. The festival derives its name from the local language’s word for commemoration as the Kalilangan Festival is a celebration commemorating the foundation of General Santos City.

The festival was institutionalized back in the early 1990s when the city government of General Santos was inspired by the success of city-wide festivals organized by cities such as Cebu and Iloilo. Following the examples of such cities, the local government and civil society groups cooperated into organizing a similar festival in General Santos that is not only meant to be a merry-making activity for its local inhabitants but also as an attraction that will draw tourists into the city which will generate income and jobs.

Like most Philippine festivals, Kalilangan is a celebration of the city’s identity and cultural heritage as it is primarily a pageantry of the city’s ethnic tradition. Being a festival celebrated to commemorate the founding of General Santos City, most of the presentations in the festival are devoted to reenacting the arrival of the city’s pioneering settlers on the shores of what is to be established as General Santos City.

One of the major events featuring in the festival is the Kadsayagan which is an extensive street dance competition held in numerous areas in the city. Of course, the usual fireworks display that is a staple in Philippine festivals is not to be missed in General Santos as it is also present in the Kalilangan festivities.

These two major festivals in General Santos City make the Queen City of southern Philippines a destination for local and foreign tourists alike.