[2019-Mar-04] When I got the invite for the cookfest my initial reactions were ‘ang layo’, ‘di ko alam puntahan’, etc. It turned out it is easier and faster to go to Imus than Fairview since I am located near MOA Pasay City.

“With the recent passage of the Gender and Development (GAD) Code of the City of Imus, the City Tourism and Development Office is also mandated to mainstream gender and development in its plans, programs, projects, services and activities. Given this mandate, departments/units in the city government are expected to utilize their GAD budget for the conduct of activities and implementation of programs and projects on gender.

Based on the assessment of organizational needs of the City Government of Imus relating to GAD, a cookfest targeting male employees is being proposed, which is expected to not only increase awareness on the importance of male participation in household management among city hall employees, but to also contribute to the City’s tourism efforts of preserving local cuisine and cooking practices and traditions by highlighting culinary diversity in the city through the said cooking contest.

The City Government of Imus has a total of 965 regular employees, with 441 females and 524 males.”

The cookfest was scheduled to start at 9am but I arrived quite early so I was able to take photos while there were not too many people around yet. Since I had my camera out and was taking pictures, I was noticed and called by ‘consi(?)’ aka @czdelmundo and asked if I am one of the bloggers invited. Later, I met Edgardo D. Saquilayan, Jr. , the tourism department head and Danica Doma, the one who sent the invite.  After taking some more photos of the venue, the people/participants/audience started arriving.

The cookfest participants are provided the utensils and ingredients but were allowed to bring their ‘secret ingredients’.

I was then introduced to Mayor Emmanuel L. Maliksi and guided to my seat. The program started with the short talks of city officials/event organizers.

Ribbon cutting

There were some Imus food products that were featured via sampling and selling.

Puto Pao

Tamales

Pansit Lang Lang

There were no sampling but we were given Longganisang Imus to take home

City Officials and Invited Judges sampling the featured products

The judges with city officials

The judges

The contestants

The contestants in action

The creations

The results:

10th place Ian Sison (#6)
9th place Pablo Clerigo (#8)
8th place Roy Del Rosario (#5)
7th place Jose Quimora (#3)
6th place Jay Mercado (#7)
5th place Jiro Maliksi (#9)
4th place Edgardo Cenon Guinto (#10)
3rd Ricardo Paredes Jr. (#5)VM
2nd Michael Loyola (#1) CICLEDO
1st Art Pangilinan (#2) City Admin Office

Of course, our group photo with Mayor Emmanuel L. Maliksi

Thank you to the City Government of Imus, most specially to Mayor Emmanuel L. Maliksi. Hoping to be invited to more events and places in Imus!