Hermosa Festival 2026 Ends at Fort Pilar After 250 Vintas Raced and the Street Dance Prize Was Tripled to One Million Pesos

A month that ended at the shrine

Fort Pilar is the Spanish fort at the eastern end of the city's old waterfront, now a branch of the National Museum of the Philippines. The image of the Virgen del Pilar sits in an open air shrine built into its outer wall, which is why the feast day's procession ends at the fort rather than inside a church. SunStar Zamboanga described it in September as the patroness's "sacred outdoor shrine embedded in the historic Fort Pilar."

The feast day program has followed the same shape for years. A nine day novena begins on October 3. In 2017, for example, the shrine opened at 4 a.m. for the rosary, Masses followed at 4:30, 6, 8 and 10 a.m., the procession left the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on La Purisima Street at 3 p.m. for the shrine in Rio Hondo, and the Pontifical Mass began at 5 p.m. with Archbishop Romulo de la Cruz as main celebrant. SunStar reported thousands of devotees at the daily novena Masses that year.

The outlets Mindanao Live checked on Thursday had not yet published crowd estimates for this year's feast or the names of the Mass celebrants.

The regatta: 250 vintas off R.T. Lim Boulevard

The Regatta de Zamboanga on Sunday, October 4 drew 250 vintas, the sailboats with striped sails that have become the city's emblem, according to the Manila Bulletin. Sail 185 from Barangay Mariki won and its boatman took home 50,000 pesos. The next four finishers received 45,000, 40,000, 35,000 and 30,000 pesos. Ukrainian Ambassador to the Philippines Yuliia Fediv was guest of honor. Mayor Khymer Olaso said the regatta and the rest of the festival are held in honor of the Virgen del Pilar.

Entry is limited to Zamboanga residents, and most crews are Sama and Badjao fishermen from coastal barangays such as Mariki, Sinunuc, Maasin and Labuan. Each boat carries two people who can paddle to add speed to the sail over a marked course off the boulevard. Last year's race drew 235 boats.

The regatta is held near the start of the festival's final stretch. The Tourism Promotions Board lists it alongside the Parade of Lights, the vinta displays, the mascota and badju dress events and the sardine based boodle fight as the festival's main public events.

A street dance prize tripled to one million pesos

The street dance competition on the afternoon of Sunday, October 11 carried a grand prize of 1 million pesos in each of its two categories, up from 300,000 pesos last year. Assistant City Administrator Christian Olasiman announced the new structure at an orientation for choreographers at City Hall on September 21, saying the city wanted to attract stronger groups from across Mindanao and the rest of the country. Second place paid 700,000 pesos and third place 500,000, with a 100,000 peso consolation prize in each category, 50,000 pesos each for best in costume and best in musicality, and 20,000 pesos for the festival queen.

Contingents assembled at Zamboanga Central School in San Jose and danced their way to the Joaquin F. Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex in Barangay Baliwasan for the final performance. Sixteen groups had registered by September 21. The Hermosa based category had Cabaluay National High School, Zamboanga City High School Main, Universidad de Zamboanga, Zamboanga National High School West and Talon Talon National High School. The open category drew Mindanao Autonomous College Foundation of Lamitan City in Basilan, Maria Clara Lorenzo Lobregat National High School, Culianan National High School, Zamboanga Peninsula Polytechnic State University, Sibuco National High School of Zamboanga del Norte, El Orgullo Hermosa Performing Arts, Barangay Vitali and the municipality of Siasi in Sulu.

As of Thursday the city had not posted the results on its website and none of the regional outlets Mindanao Live reviewed had named the winners. Mindanao Gold Star Daily did report on October 13 that a modern take on the mascota, the city's traditional gown, by a designer surnamed Uyao was the winning entry in a festival design contest.

What the city promised in September

Olaso, City Tourism Officer Sarita Sebastian and Olasiman presented the festival program to the media on Friday, September 11 under the theme Cultura, Tradicion, y Devocion. Olaso said the theme's three words stand for the city's heritage, the customs handed down across generations, and devotion to the Virgen del Pilar, and that the fiesta also marks the way the city's Muslim and Christian communities celebrate together. He urged Zamboangueños abroad and elsewhere in the country to "come home to Zamboanga" and said the city expected more than 100,000 tourists and visitors over the month.

Sebastian said the Parade of Lights would run along R.T. Lim Boulevard, the same stretch of waterfront where the regatta is sailed. The tourism office and private partners filled the rest of the calendar, with the feast day as the finale.

Two days later, the haze

The fiesta ended just before the city's worst air day of the year. On Wednesday, October 14 the Environmental Management Bureau's monitor at Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Barangay Tumaga recorded fine particulate matter in the emergency band at noon, the top of the Philippine air quality scale, as smoke from fires in Indonesian Borneo crossed the strait. Mindanao Live covered the readings and the regional picture in a separate report. The city had not reported haze disruptions to the feast day events themselves.