Alcala town in the beautiful province of Pangasinan greets the world anew when it bids for two Guinness Book of World Records titles for the longest grill and the longest barbeque grill.

Actually, I have written a separate story on this in my column in Sunday Punch (http://sundaypunch.prepys.com under Business Log) in its Feb.26,2006 issue.

Just this afternoon, we (members of the local media) had a talk with Mayor Manuel Collado who told us more about the event.

Alcala will have its 3,000 meters long barbeque grill. That's three kilometers. That means it is hoping to dislodge Dagupan City's 2005 attempt on the same category with its 2.2-kilometer long barbeque grill.

While Dagupeños grilled their famous Bonuan bangus, Alcalenians will grill pork and bangus (milkfish) for the documentation. Later during the party, people can grill anything from chicken, hotdogs, vegetables, talaba (oysters) or what-have-you.

For the longest grill, it will have its 150-meter long grill. The current record holder had only a 30-meter long grill, based on an information provided by Collado.

It's like this. If Alcala luckily lands in the Guinness, that will be a bonus. Collado said. This, as the main purpose of this event is fund-raising through the sale of the grills at $100 each.

What's interesting here is that the grills are being sold briskly like hotcakes as more than 900 grills, out of the 1,000 being prepared, are already sold out. The buyers are Alcalenians now based or working abroad, mostly in the United States of America.

The funds that will be raised out of the grills proceeds will be handled by a foundation that will look for the health, education and livelihood needs of the local residents.

As I have earlier pointed out here, Alcala will greet the world again. Was it three years ago (sorry if my memory is not correct) when the dreaded SARS hit the headlines and put this town into the world scene when one of its residents acquired this disease that sent shivers to every health-conscious Filipino?

Now the town will try again to make a grand entrance in the world map when it makes this Guinness attempt on April 29 at 5:00 p.m.

An estimated crowd of 20,000 people are expected to join in the revelry. As of now, everything is working well as planned, said the mayor.

See you there!