Some 30 tons of sweet mangoes await visitors for the 2022 Manggahan Festival of the province of Guimaras that kicked off at the provincial capitol grounds in the municipality of Jordan on May 14 and will culminate on May 22 to mark the 30th year since the island has become a full-fledged province.

“We return this Manggahan festival to support the recovery of our micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs),” said Liberty Ferrer, officer-in-charge of the provincial tourism office in an interview on Sunday.

Ferrer said this year’s festival is bannered by the “mango-eat-all-you can” where for PHP100, a guest is given the chance to consume unlimited numbers or kilos of the sweet fruit in 30 minutes.

Of the 30 tons, the Provincial Office of Agricultural Services (POAS) has allotted 10 tons for the eat-all-you-can feast and the rest are projection for the 10 stalls available at the agri-trade fair, market linkages, and actual sales.

The venue for the feast can accommodate six batches at 100 guests per batch for 30 minutes.

“On the average, they can eat around two to 2.5 kilos. So that’s 1.2 to 1.5 tons of mangoes in a day,” said Guimaras assistant provincial agriculturist Alvin Nava in a media conference on Saturday.

He said that in the previous years, they had a guest from Mindanao who consumed around 11 to 12 kilos in 30 minutes. For local guests in Western Visayas, the highest was six to seven kilos.

The eat-all-you-can feast, however, is slated only on weekends particularly on May 14-15,18, 20-22 since they are not yet sure of the condition since there is still a pandemic.

Ferrer said other than the trade fair and the feast, other events for the festival are individual sports such as the bike fun ride and motocross 4×4 challenge; job fair; and nightly entertainment.

The online events consist of an audio-visual presentation showcasing the province’s heritage, culture and tourism dubbed as “Panakayon” and a mini-documentary featuring the best practices on environment, agriculture, and tourism sectors.

“The highlight on May 22 is the Guimaras pearl anniversary celebration. More of our physical events will be on May 20-22,” she said.

Ferrer added they are expecting a new executive order to be released anytime by the Office of the Governor to “somehow lighten” the protocol during the duration of the festival.

The province, which is currently under Alert Level 1, requires visitors coming into the island to fill up a health declaration card prior to securing a ticket at the Parola wharf in Iloilo City, and to be submitted upon arrival at the Jordan wharf in Guimaras.

Upon arriving at the venue of the trade fair, guests again need to submit a health declaration form through quick response (QR) code and have their body temperature checked at the entrance.

“We are still considering that the process will be undergone but it will be lighter in the next remaining days of the festival. We are overwhelmed with the support of our local tourists from the Western Visayas,” Ferrer added. (PNA)