Balilihan Mayor Trisha Chatto said this year’s fiesta celebration will be a “bar smoker,” a scaled-down affair centered on nightly food bazaar activities.
Chatto made the remarks in an interview with DYTR’s Ardy Araneta-Batoy.
She said the celebration is built around a food bazaar running through July 13, 2026.
At least 30 concessionaires are taking part, offering a range of food items from full meals to snacks, with nightly activities held at the venue.
The fiesta itself falls on July 16, in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Chatto said the setup is meant to help small businesses grow by giving them space to sell food, with the celebration’s focus kept on culture and community.
Separately, Mayor Atty. Trisha Chatto said she was honored to join Batch 8 of the Young Leaders for Good Governance (YLGG) Fellowship Program, organized by the Jesse M. Robredo Foundation.
She said she looks forward to learning more about good governance — “matino, mahusay at may puso” — for the benefit of Balilihan and its residents.
The YLGG program, a joint initiative of the Jesse M. Robredo Foundation and the National Movement of Young Legislators, was created to develop young Filipino local government leaders.
Fellows in the program undergo training modules meant to instill the core values associated with the late Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo — competence, integrity and compassion, according to the foundation.
The Jesse M. Robredo Foundation was established in memory of Robredo, a former Naga City mayor and Cabinet secretary widely recognized for his good-governance reforms, who died in a plane crash in 2012.
The foundation carries on his work by supporting leadership and governance programs for local officials and youth across the Philippines.