ILOILO City – Responding to soaring public demand ahead of Dinagyang Festival, the Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc. (IFFI) will be adding more than 400 seats at the La Paz judging and performance area.
Allan Ryan Tan, chairman of the IFFI Stage Committee, said Judging Area No. 2 along Huervana Street in La Paz will have 438 more seats, excluding space reserved for judges, as organizers move to ease congestion in existing venues.
“Tickets will be ready by Monday, and even before printing, we already received many calls from people reserving seats. We’ve noted their names, but the actual tickets will only be released on Monday,” said Tan.
Tan clarified that tickets for the La Paz judging area will be sold exclusively as physical copies and will not be available online. Purchases can be made directly at the IFFI office at Iloilo City Hall.
Ticket prices: Gold at P3,000, and silver at P2,000.
“For the Iloilo Sports Complex judging and performance area, general admission tickets are already available,” he said. “This is the P300 ticket.”
The Dinagyang Festival is Iloilo City’s premier cultural and religious celebration held every January in honor of Señor Santo Niño, the Holy Child Jesus. It traces its roots to 1967, when San Jose Parish introduced a devotional celebration inspired by Aklan’s Ati-atihan Festival.
In 1977, the Iloilo City Government formally institutionalized Dinagyang, evolving it into a highly choreographed cultural spectacle blending religious devotion, indigenous history, and contemporary performance art.
Over the years, the Dinagyang Ati tribes competition gained national and international recognition for its precision-driven choreography and grand-scale productions, earning a reputation as one of the most technically demanding festivals in the country./PN
