Kalilangan Festival

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (February 27, 2008) - Contingents from schools and barangays try to outsmart each other Wednesday (Feb. 27) during the street-dance competition at downtown General Santos City to highlight the final day of Kalilangan Festival. Kalilangan is from the Maguindanao word "kalilang" which means celebration. Each year, General Santos City celebrates February 27 to commemorate the landing of the city's founder, General Paulino Santos, along with the first settlers from Luzon, at the shores of Sarangani Bay. The late Congressman James L. Chiongbian of the lone district of Sarangani is the father of General Santos City Charter. At the festival, contingents depicted the arrival on February 27, 1939 of 64 Christian settlers and 17 employees of National Land Settlement Administration led by General Paulino Santos. (Photo by SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE/CAS)