Some of the Events

The World Pyro Olympics is held in the Philippines every year starting from December 2005. Foreigners come to the country to support their own countries joining in the competition.

The 2005 Southeast Asian Games was held in the country. The games attracted more tourists compared to the World Pyro Olympics because the Pyro Olympics was only held at night unlike the games which was held at day and night. The government took advantage of the games to show off the tourist spots around the country through the games’ advertisements.

The beauty pageant Miss Earth is held in the Philippines every year. The competition is also used to advertise the beauty of the country around the world.

There are a lot of festivals in every part of the Philippines and many of them are very worthwhile visiting. The following are the main festivals :

• Procession of the Black Nazarene, January, Metro Manila. It's a large event with thousand of barefoot men parading through the streets carrying a life-sized, black wooden statue of Jesus of Nazarene. Pilgrims from all over the country attend, wanting to touch the statue in the hope of a miracle.

• Ati-Atihan Festival, January, Panay. It is the wildest among Philippine fiestas and many consider it as the Mother of All festivals in the Philippine . Everyone paints their faces with black soot and wears bright, outlandish costumes as they dance for the last three days of this two week-long festival. Religious and non-religious folk alike observe this day of parades, dancing and music, there may even be beer to be had.

• Sinulog festival January, Cebu City. The festival features a street parade with participants in bright-colored costumes dancing to the rhythm of drums, trumpets, and native gongs. Smaller versions of the festival are held in various parts of the province, also to celebrate, and honor the Santo Niño. There is also a "Sinulog sa Kabataan", performed by the youths of Cebu a week before the grand parade.

• Moriones Festival March-April, Marinduque. The Moriones is an annual festival held on Holy Week on the island of Marinduque, Philippines. The "Moriones" are men and women in costumes and masks replicating the garb of biblical Roman soldiers as interpreted by local folks. The Moriones or Moryonan tradition has inspired the creation of other festivals in the Philippines where cultural practices or folk history is turned into street festivals.

• Pahiyas festival May, Lucban, on the border of Quezon City. This festival is in honor of San Isidro where the town celebrates by colourfully decorating the town with fruits, vegetables, flowers,and Kiping, which are imitation leaves made from rice-starch.

• Flores de Mayo May. Flores de Mayo is a Catholic festival held in the Philippines in the month of May. It lasts for a month, and is held in honor of the Virgin Mary. The Santa Cruzan is a parade held on the last day of Flores de Mayo in honor of Reyna Elena.

• Pagoda-Sa-Wawa festival July, Bocaue. In the town of Bocaue in Bulacan province, on the First Sunday of July, The festival celebrate the discovery of the miraculous cross floating on the Bocaue river 200 years ago. A large pagoda is sailed down the river WaWa and if your luck enough to ride on the pagoda, it is said that your life will be improved and you will have good luck for the year.