ILOILO CITY – Close to a thousand children of City Hall employees and guests on Monday paid no attention to the drizzle to join this year’s “Iloilo City Halo-ween: KERnival in the City” that was facilitated by the city government through its Gender and Development (GAD) team and the City Population Office.
The activity was integrated with a dog fashion show dubbed “Alindog 2018” to highlight the observance of Animal Welfare Month this October.
“Our pre-Halloween event is a family bonding time. As we all know, pets are considered extended family members and dogs are man’s best friend, and a loyal friend. To raise the consciousness of the public on the rights and welfare of animals, we have chosen pets,” said Anne Ramos, head of the City Population Office.
She said the activity probably made this highly urbanized city as one of the first local governments in the country to introduce the concept of integrating Halloween with the advocacy on responsible pet ownership.
“We would like to see Iloilo City as a pet-friendly city. Hopefully, little by little, the problem on homeless animals will be addressed,” Ramos added.
Dr. Tomas Forteza Jr., city veterinarian and one of the event organizers, said they would like to show that Iloilo City is pet-friendly and that the local government and residents are “one in efforts towards being rabies-free”.
“We just want to show to the children that dogs are (their) best friends. They can mingle without the threat of rabies or risk of being bitten,” he added.
Aside from joining the Halloween activity, one of their innovations this year is the spay and neuter program.
“We urged responsible (owners) to have their pets neutered, spayed and castrated. We do that every week, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday,” Forteza revealed. The program is available at the city veterinarian’s office every Wednesday and in selected barangays during Fridays and Saturdays.
He said that they targeted 2,000 dogs this year for the five-year program to have an impact.
To date, some 85 percent of the estimated 40,000 dog population in the city has been vaccinated.
Ramos noted that for several years, they have been veering away from the usual spooky concept of observing Halloween.
City Hall has been celebrating Halloween for seven years now. Children wore spooky costumes during the first three years but many of them were not comfortable with the concept, Ramos said.
“We decided to build something positive, to bring positive vibes to our children,” she said.
In 2014, the Pinoy and International superheroes theme was introduced and this year, it was carnival.
Nearly 1,000 children aged three to eight years old were treated Monday to free candies, toys, ice pops, marshmallows, wafers and biscuits, chocolates and popcorn.
Also, each floor of the city hall prepared a fantasy booth with mascots, roulette games, magic show, clowns, photo booth, face painting, balloon booth, and a puppet show.
Prior to the trick or treat, 70 children also competed in a costume contest where the top three winners received cash prizes of PHP3,000, PHP2,000 and PHP1,500 for the first, second and third placers, respectively.
The winners in the dog fashion show also received the same cash prizes and freebies.
The half-day event was also held in partnership with the Philippine Dog Welfare Association, Inc, the Philippine Veterinary Medical Association, and the Yasa Pet Shop. (Perla Lena/PNA)
