KALIBO, Aklan – Preparations are now underway for a face-to-face Kalibo Ati-Atihan Festival in January 2023.
With a promise of a bigger and exciting Ati-Atihan, a special body will spearhead the staging of what is considered to be the country’s mother of all festivals.
The newly-formed Kalibo Ati-Atihan Festival Board (KAFEB) will develop, manage and organise the festival, including its opening salvo this Oct. 8.
Mayor Juris Bautista Sucro, also the KAFEB chairman, will oversee the KAFEB board composed of individuals from the local government unit and the private sector to include education, religious, business, tourism, cultural and marketing sectors.
KAFEB, by virtue of Municipal Ordinance 2022-003, was enacted on Sept. 19, 2022 by the Sangguniang Bayan of Kalibo.
The festival board will function all year round, conducting regular promotional initiatives and post-event evaluation of the festival, and seminar workshops.
The municipal ordinance also mandates KAFEB to submit the Ati-Atihan Festival’s financial statement within two months after the festival.
KAFEB is also allowed to source funds through solicitations, gifts, donations, assistance from the national government, provincial government and/or funded by the municipal government chargeable to the General Fund or Special Fund of the local government unit of Kalibo.
The creation of the new festival board was sponsored by Sangguniang Bayan members Ronald Marte, Ketchie Luces, Raymar Rebaldo, Christine Dela Cruz and Phillip Kimpo, Jr./PN
