Cadiz City will kick off its 52nd Dinagsa Festival on Friday, January 16, promising a lot of surprises from day one until Jan. 26.
“Every year, Dinagsa is a festival of many breakthroughs,” Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. said in a press release on Thursday.
“We see to it that revelers will have something to look forward to. We will not allow Dinagsa, a celebration our faith in Sr. Sto. Nin̈o de Cadiz, and all his blessings he bestowed upon us, to be boring. A lot of surprises will surely greet and amaze tourists and revelers,” Escalante said.
The 52nd Dinagsa will kick off with the loudest bang through Patikanay Drumbeating Competition to be held at the Cadiz Grandstand at 5 p.m. Friday, the press release said.
It will showcase of homegrown drum beating groups, competing to produce an authentic drum beat that could truly be branded as “Tunog Cadiz”.
“It is a sort of a ‘rock and roll’ in an indigenous way via a drum beating tilt,” the mayor said.
Celebrity concerts will also be featured at this year’s Dinagsa.
The Miss Dinagsa 2026 coronation night will be on January 23.
“Paralympiada”, a fiesta for special kids will also be held during the Dinagsa with participants from special education schools in Negros and Panay.
The festival highlights will unfold on January 24, beginning with the traditional Diana at dawn.
Cultural performances such as “Sayaw Pagdayaw” and Sinaot Cadiznon will fill the main thoroughfares of Cadiz.
A fluvial parade will be held at Banquerohan Port in the afternoon where Sto.Nin̈o devotees are expected to flock.
Festivities will continue into the evening with street parties and fireworks displays.
The highlight of the celebration, the Dinagsa Festival Street Dance Competition will be on January 25.
The Dinagsa – the Ati street dance competition will also be held, followed by the “Lamhitanay sa Dalan”.
The 52nd Dinagsa Festival will end on January 26 with the Misa Fiesta, a local concelebrated mass at the Sto. Niño Parish Church.
Escalante said “Dinagsa is not just a celebration – it is also a way of strengthening and sustaining our faith in the Child Jesus , the Sr. Sto. Nin̈o de Cadiz – our great protector and our great provider.”
“Cadiz will never be progressive as it is today without Sr. Sto. Nin̈o,” he added.*