The UZ Wildcats and the Tulungatung Elementary School emerged as winners in the Drum and Lyre Competition Open and Elementary Level categories, respectively, held at the City Coliseum in Tetuan, Thursday, October 5, as part of the 2023 Zamboanga Hermosa Festival.

A total of 13 groups participated in the city-organized competition, 3 of which participated in the elementary level while 9 joined in the open category.

Mayor John Dalipe expressed gratitude to the participants for exerting their best efforts during the competition. He likewise thanked the judges and the organizers for making the annual activity possible.

The mayor vowed to continuously improve the conduct of the Zamboanga Hermosa activities especially to increase the prizes for the different competitions to further motivate the participants.

Aside from winning the grand prize of P75K in the open category, the UZ Wildcats also bagged all special awards – best in musicality, best in drumline, best in color guard and best in mallet.

Placing second in the open category was El Virtuoso Azul with P50K cash prize and second place was Southern City Colleges (SCC) with P30K cash prize. Non winners received P10K consolation prize.

The other participants were the Unbreakable Mercedes, ICASean, Sta. Maria Vanguards, Ferndale International School Marching Jaguars, Tulungatung Neophytes and El Lampara Genius.

Meanwhile, placing second in the elementary level was the Sta. Maria Elementary School drum and lyre while third place was Mercedes ES drum and lyre corps. (Sheila Covarrubias)