Miss Earth 2016 contestants and the Ati-Atihan tribes slayed the ‘Tamboe Salvo’ of the Sto. The finalists had an amazing experience at the Nino Ati-Atihan festival in Kalibo, Aklan, regarded as the “Mother of All Philippine Festivals”, held on October 21.
The Festival was organized by Albert Menez who stated that “the 23 beautiful earth warriors out of 84 candidates had a once-a-lifetime opportunity to witness and experience the traditional Ati-Atihan street dancing.”
The beautiful candidates were welcomed by more than 2,000 merrymakers at Kalibo Pastrana Park in downtown Kalibo with the rhythmic beating of drums and lyres.
The 23 candidates who took part at the fest were - Chinese Taipei, Romania, Russia, Hungary, USA, Poland, Chile, Sri Lanka, Italy, Mauritius, Belize, Peru, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, England, Lebanon, Pakistan, Cyprus, Zimbabwe, Slovenia, Dominican Republic and Miss Earth 2014 Jamie Herrell.
After coming at the site straight from Caticlan airport, the Miss Earth warriors had their courtesy call with Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores at the provincial capital before heading to Kalibo Bakhawan Eco-Park.
The Earth beauties also got to plant mangrove propagules at the mangrove reforestation site as part of their eco advocacies. The finalists also got to taste some hearty delicacies and sumptuous lunch by local organizers.
Subsequently, school children lined the road from Barangay New Buswang waving mini-flags to greet the Miss Earth beauties while they were in police convoy to downtown Kalibo.
Later on, the gorgeous finalists clad in their official Miss Earth red shirt and donning their respective countries sash joined the street dance up to the stage of Kalibo Pastrana Park. During the amazing street dance session they were also given the chance to introduce themselves in front of thousands of spectators.
The 42 Ati-Atihan tribes and modern groups danced to the streets to start the opening salvo, a preview of the 2017 Ati-Atihan festival in reverence to Senor Sto. Nino de Kalibo.
On October 22, the Miss Earth candidates joined the coastal clean-up and visited the eco-tourism sites of Motag Living Museum and Nabaoy River in Malay, Aklan.