A PARTY LIKE NO OTHER. Aerial view of the jam-packed and record-breaking Tigtigan Terakan Keng Dalan 2018, the biggest street party in the Philippines held every last Friday and Saturday of October in Angeles City. (Photo courtesy of Francis Ildefonso)
ANGELES CITY- More than 80,000 residents and tourists flocked to this city’s highly-anticipated Tigtigan Terakan Keng Dalan (TTKD) making it, yet, the biggest number of attendees in the festival’s history.
This was disclosed by Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan during Monday’s flag raising rites at the city hall. He added that the number of attendees was confirmed based on the record of ticket sales of JCI Angeles Culiat.
During the opening day on October 26, Mayor Pamintuan expressed that he was overwhelmed with the massive crowd saying “26 years have passed but Tigtigan Terakan Keng Dalan (TTKD) is still an event worth waiting”.
Pamintuan was also emotional as he announces that it will be the last under his administration. The five-term mayor also took the chance to express his thanks to JCI Angeles Culiat and the San Miguel Brewery for always being with the city in staging the annual revelry.
Back in October 1992, Mayor Pamintuan pioneered TTKD during his first term with the primary goal of uplifting the dampened spirit of the Angeleños due to the immense destruction brought by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.
“After all the difficulties we have experienced, our city was built again and eventually became one of the prosperous cities in the Philippines,” the mayor said.
In affirmation, Vice Mayor Bryan Matthew Nepomuceno reiterated in his thanksgiving speech that the two-day merriment has become “a tribute to the resilient and triumphant Angeleño spirit”.
Meanwhile, Culture and Arts Council of Angeles (CACA) Executive Director and TTKD Chairman Wing Pingol thanked Mayor Pamintuan for the trust, and for initiating and spearheading the TTKD tradition which he dubbed “an Angeleño party like no other”.
The opening salvo was filled with dance performances from the city’s premiere dance groups and performing arts companies which include the City College of Angeles Band and Street Dancers, ACNTS Drum Lyre Band/Street Dancers, Republic Central Colleges Street Dancers, Francisco G. Nepomuceno Memorial High School Street Dancers, Angeles City National High School, Systems Plus College Foundation, and the Sinukwan Kapampangan Center for the Arts.
Food booths and stalls were opened ahead of time to serve attendees with the best culinary dishes for varied taste buds. The TTKD main stages also offered diverse form of entertainment featuring celebrities and music artists from the local and national scene.
Local artists and government officials were also given the venue to showcase their talents with the Artists Village and the Kagawads Got Talent event, while Mayor Pamintuan rendered his handpicked ‘The Beatles’ songs at the “Let It BE” stage.
To add, the TTKD committee for peace and order disclosed that it has deployed more than 1,200 police personnel to assure the safety and security of all the attendees. This is on top of various groups who volunteered for the reinforcement of the peacekeeping action teams.
For his part, Mayor Pamintuan ended his speech as he assures the continuous staging of TTKD with Vice Mayor Nepomuceno at the helm. Also gracing the festivity are the incumbent city councilors of the local government.
TTKD, dubbed as the biggest music and food party in the Philippines, is held every last Friday and Saturday of October and serves as the climax of the month-long Fiestang Kuliat spearheaded by the Angeles City Tourism Office (ACTO). (Cris Palarca)
