Las Pinas celebrates 9th Water Lily Festival today

From news.pia.gov.ph:

LAS PINAS CITY, 24 July (PIA)–The many uses of the water hyacinth more popularly called ‘water lily’ in the Philippines will be highlighted Thursday (July 24) during the 9th Water Lily Festival that will be held in Las Piñas City starting at 7 a.m. along C5 Extension.

According to Villar, the Water Lily Festival was really conceptualized in order to highlight the products made out of water lilies, which were treated as aquatic pests before as they used to clog the Las Piñas River, but are now useful raw materials.

“Through this festival, we are able to help the water lily weavers to market their products by showcasing them throughout the day-long festival, from the beautiful gowns of the contestants in the Miss Water Lily and the costumes of the street dancers to the decorations of the boats in the fluvial parade,” Villar said.

The Water Lily festival aims to promote the water hyacinth-based livelihood enterprise. To clear the Las Piñas River of water lilies, residents harvest them and dry the stalks, which become the raw material for producing baskets, trays, slippers, and other functional and ornamental items.

The festival not only promotes Las Piñas as a city and draws the attention of the people to its environmental and livelihood programs.

“We are proud of the barangay-based livelihood projects that we have created, the raw materials of which all come from wastes. We have employed more than 500 families in our livelihood centers,” Villar cited.

Highlights of the annual festival are the coronation of Miss Las Piñas Water Lily 2014 and the street dancing wherein participants will don gowns and costumes made out of water lily. (Las Pinas/RJB/SDL/PIA-NCR)