President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday heaped praises on the participants of the Parada ng Kalayaan 2025, saying they made the celebration of the 127th Philippine Independence Day “most memorable.”

Marcos led the Parangal ng Kalayaan 2025 at the Kalayaan Hall of Malacañan Palace in Manila, in recognition of the winning and competing teams in the Parada ng Kalayaan 2025.

The President, joined by First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, awarded the trophies and prizes to the winning contingents for the float design and festival performance competitions.

He acknowledged the participating contingents of the Parada ng Kalayaan 2025 for their artistic mastery and contributions to deepening public awareness of the Philippines’ deep historical narratives.

“To all our participants, to all of those who have won their awards, congratulations and thank you very much for making it a most memorable Independence Day celebration,” he said during the awarding ceremony.

“I hope that the spark that you have within you to join these kinds of festivities, that it will never leave, it will never leave your heart, and it will never leave your creative spirit. Because we are not just preserving our culture when we do this. We preserve it for the next generation, but more so, we are living our culture. We are living it proudly and joyfully and meaningfully.”

Marcos presented the trophies, certificates of recognition, and the PHP2 million grand cash prize to the City Government of Candon’s Cry of Candon for winning the float design competition and to the Tultugan Festival of the Province of Iloilo and Municipality of Maasin, Iloilo, for emerging as champion in the festival performance competition.

Second placers for both competitions, Iloilo Province’s Cry of Santa Barbara (float) and Iloilo City’s Dinagyang Festival (festival), also received certificates and cash prizes worth PHP1 million each.

The Cinco de Noviembre float of the City of Bago, Negros Occidental and the Antipolo Maytime Festival by the City of Antipolo – San Jose National High School were third runners-up, both earning a certificate of recognition and PHP500,000 cash prize.

Marcos also awarded certificates and consolation prizes to the competing local governments in both the float design and festival performance competitions.

These include the City of Malolos, Province of Bulacan, Province of Aurora, Province of Cavite, Cities of Imus, Dasmariñas, and Cavite, the Municipality of Kawit, Cavite, the Province of Lanao del Sur, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. (PNA)