Singkamas Festival: The DepEd Cultural Night!

San Marcelino Zambales was known as Zambales' centre for producing Singkamas.

The Zambales town of San Marcelino was famous because of the delicious, white, globe-shaped, and fleshy, called singkamas. Every year, in the final week of February, we celebrate the Singakamas Festival.

Municipal officials plan month-long events each year to provide entertainment for the community and add extra energy to the festivities.

The DepEd Cultural Night is one of the events scheduled for the town's Fiesta Week celebration this year, culminating on the final Sunday of February. It is one of the highlights of the town fiesta during the one-week celebration period.

Teachers from this town's public elementary and high schools and private institutions demonstrated their dancing prowess on February 20 at San Marcelino Town Plazuela during DepEd Night.

The teachers bravely participated in the dance competition, to the audience's delight, revealing their different sides.

The national anthem was sung at the beginning of the program, and our chief of staff, Christopher "Jimbo" Gongora, gave the welcome address.

The municipal challenged all dancers from every cluster to dance and perform the Singkamas Festival Unity Dance, which Sir Jimbarry S. Ordillas, the DepEd Zambales teacher, created.

Seven clusters of schools have been established, and for the folk dance "Kamas, Kamas," which was composed by Sir Jimbarry O. Ordillas, a single song will be used.

Seeing the dance competition between the seven clusters was exciting for us. Their vibrant and appealing costume enhances their performance, and their singkamas are their primary prop.

As I looked up at fellow educators dancing, I realized teachers are our dance heroes. It is they who keep the dance world turning!

Teachers are the ones who preserve the art of dance; they give it life and nourishment with each step they take. They encourage everyone to appreciate the traditions dance has to offer and to find joy in movement generation after generation. It is a special responsibility to pass on the styles and techniques established today.

I love how much of themselves they put forth to demonstrate to everyone that they can be adaptable and talented. We are in awe of how they gracefully dance and glance to convey their genuine pride in Marcelineans and their profession as teachers.

Thus, I came to understand that teachers are more than just educators.

Teaching is only sometimes enjoyable. At times, teaching can be challenging. Teachers devote much of their time and energy to their students, so it can be difficult to give the right kind of correction, administer discipline appropriately, or decide whether to cast, judge, or assign students. Since teachers are fallible, it remains challenging, although a difficult situation fosters accountability and trust.

Following the teachers' demonstration of their dancing skills and to add to the DepEd Night's highlights, the municipal invited famous people to entertain the teachers and create additional memorable moments for the evening.

It's clear from the excited yells and giggles that the teachers were having a great time that evening.