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BANGA, South Cotabato: Sweet-smelling grilled corn in
various sizes and varieties practically filled the streets here
Thursday morning as local residents grilled an estimated 40,000
pieces of corn in an attempt to establish a Guinness record for the
“longest line of grilled corn.”
Farmers, students, local
government officials and employees, along with members of various
local organizations, took over the left side of a six-kilometer
stretch aof the main road leading to the municipal hall here where
at least 2,000 grill stalls measuring three meters each were set up
as early as 6 a.m.
“It was a successful activity
and we’re hoping that it would land us in the Guinness Book of
World Records,” said Vice-Mayor Alex Garcia, chair of the
event’s organizing committee.
Garcia said they grilled about 12
tons or 12,000 kilos of white and yellow corn purchased by the
municipal government and donated by local farmers.
The bamboo-made grill stalls,
which held at least 20 pieces of corn, were lined up on the roadside
of Purok Reyes in Poblacion and a portion of Barangay San Vicente.
Garcia said the actual corn
grilling started around 8 a.m. and wrapped up about two hours later.
Felix Villegas, media affairs
consultant of the mayor’s office, said they would submit the
required documentations to Guinness for proper validation and
authentication of this morning’s feat, which practically erased
the national record of 300 meters line of grilled corn earlier
achieved by the town of Upi in Maguindanao.
Villegas said the local
officials, led by Mayor Isidro Janita, have signified willingness to
launch the activity again should Thursday’s feat fail to meet the
standards of the Guinness Book of World Records. The municipal
government of Banga spent at least P100,000 for the Guinness record
attempt. It spent P50,000 for the corn, P30,000 for the charcoal and
P20,000 for the grill stalls.
Banga town, which has been
positioning itself as the “Corn Capital of the Philippines,”
produces at least 25,600 metric tons of corn per cropping season, or
a yearly harvest of 76,800 MT.
Town records show that 61 percent
of the town’s 24,034 hectares is planted to corn, 28 percent to
rice and 11 percent to high value crops such as asparagus and
papaya.
--PNA
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