Posted by Sunshine D. Robles on April 21, 2006

Bangus Festival 2006 formally opens today (April 21) at the city plaza featuring a ceremonial lighting and a Drum and Bugle Corps exhibition.

Mayor Benjamin S. Lim, Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez, Bangus Festival 2006 chairman Nick Aquino and Sangguniang Panlungsod members will lead participants and guests during the opening ceremonies.

The opening rites start at 6 p.m. following the Bangus Fest Caravan, a band-wagon style motorcade which covers main streets of Dagupan and around the municipalities of Mangaldan, San Fabian, Manaoag and San Jacinto.

Vice Mayor Fernandez will confer his welcome remarks, while Coun. Aquino will give his opening statements.

Mayor Lim will deliver his message over the success of the staging of the Bangus Festival over the years.

Mayor Lim, together with Vice Mayor Fernandez, Coun. Aquino, and SP members, will then spearhead the ceremonial lighting of the opening of the Bangus Festival with an accompaniment by the University of Luzon Drum and Bugle Corps.

The DBC exhibition dubbed Bandaragupan will follow immediately after the opening ceremony.

Aside from the UL DBC, the country’s recent national marching band champion, the event will also feature six other multi-awarded Drum and Bugle Corps namely: ACES Anak ng Tagaytay (Tagaytay), Tolentino East DBC (Tagaytay), Boys of Caridad (Cavite), Knights of Caloocan (Manila), Virgen Milagrosa University Foundation (San Carlos City, Pangasinan), and Far Eastern University (Manila).

The opening ceremony is chaired by Metro-Dagupan Culture and Arts Council (MDCAC) president Nora Siapno, while Coun. Luis Chito Samson chairs the Bandaragupan.