DIPOLOG CITY, Zamboanga del Norte – When Gov. Rolando E. Yebes first took the reins of the provincial government in 2004, he noted the rich tourism potentials of Zamboanga del Norte (ZaNorte) and its two cities of Dipolog and Dapitan.

Yebes, then a newly retired Bureau of Customs collector deployed in various parts of the country, found that ZaNorte abounds with scenic and historical destinations that, if properly

tapped, developed, and promoted, could help boost the socio-economic life of its Christian, Muslim, and Subanen inhabitants.

He also noticed various local festivals that, if further improved and advanced, could help boost the growth and progress of the province which, in 2003, was listed as the poorest in the country by the National Statistics Coordinating Board.

Losing no time, Yebes – who won the 2010 prestigious “Gawad Kalinga Presidential Award” under the agriculture “Hi-land“ program, created the Provincial Tourism Office and installed youthful lawyer Ivan Patrick Ang as its chief even as he aggressively involved the local private tourism sector led by lawyer Alberto Concha Jr.

Yebes tasked the two offices to discover, develop, and promote deserving tourist and historical spots, and mandated them to further popularize crowd-pleasing festivals to attract foreign and domestic visitors.

Initially, Ang and Concha conceptualized in 2005 the “Hudyaka ZaNorte Festival” (HZF) to celebrate for several days the founding anniversary of ZaNorte that, incidentally, will mark its 59th year in the first two weeks of May to coincide with the May 8 to 14 staging of the Palarong Pambansa – the country’s premier schools sportsfest – in the nearby Shrine City of Dapitan.

Concha explained that “Hudyaka,” a Cebuano-Visayan term for merry making, is mainly designed to showcase ZaNorte’s beauty and bounty, people’s culture, and their agricultural, tourism, industrial, and other products and resources with the support of the Department of Tourism (DoT) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

“Hudyaka, dubbed the mother of all local festivities, is participated in by ZaNorte’s 25 towns and two cities, which will converge for about two weeks, to exhibit their individual richness and potentials.

The feast, Concha said, requires local government units (LGUs) to participate in various major activities including setting up of agro-industrial and tourism booths, costume float parade, selection of Ms. Zamboanga del Norte, inter-LGU literary and musical derby, and street dancing competition even as it features exciting outdoor games, including motor cross, off-road racing, shootfest, scuba diving, golf tournament, and other sports events.

According to Concha, “Hudyaka,” considered the first of its kind in Western Mindanao, has tremendously increased foreign and domestic tourist arrivals and consequently caused unprecedented rise of hotels and inns, airline services, tour and travel operations, restaurants, salons, souvenir shops, amusement parks, sidewalk vending of native delicacies, and other related services.