Zambales cancels motor races in Mango Festival

An updated festival schedule posted by the Zambales Tourism and Investment Promotion Office had delisted five events from the original program released in February.

- BY HENRY EMPEÑO

Motor races and other events that consume large amounts of fuel will no longer be part of this year's Dinamulag Mango Festival in Zambales in line with President Marcos' March 6 memorandum for government units to strictly adopt energy conservation measures.

“We have discarded some activities that will be violative of the Presidential memorandum,” Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said on Wednesday. “These include motorized races, as well as the float parade.”

The float parade, which promote the world-famous Zambales carabao (Dinamulag) mangoes and the province's agricultural roots, provides one of the popular highlights of the annual summer festival here.

Race events, which involve dirt bikes and 4x4 off-road vehicles, meanwhile, were incorporated in the festival program in the past years to promote local lahar dune attractions and spike adventure tourism in the province.