MANILA -- A pugon-smoked pork adobo from food stall The Oinkery topped last weekend's Adobo Challenge, which was held at the Mercato Centrale in Bonifacio Global City.

The contest was held in support of the Adobo Movement, which aims to make adobo the country's national dish. Home-based vendor-cooks of Mercato Centrale were challenged to come up with their own spin of the Filipino classic using Datu Puti products -- vinegar, soy sauce, and patis (fish sauce).

The dishes were judged not only on taste and presentation but story and heart as well.

The Oinkery's adobo was pugon-roasted for eight hours, basted and sauced with a Cebu-style adobo sauce, and finished with slivers of green mangoes.

The result is soft, tender, and delicious melt-in-your-mouth pork dripping with a sweet-savory sauce, balanced by the sour bite of the mangoes. Taste-wise, it leans towards the more traditional but with its method of cooking and the texture it produced, it was hard to beat.

Finishing second was Dayrit’s Pork Adobong Laing Pinangat, which fused two quintessentially Filipino dishes – the adobo and the laing.

Chef Miguel Daytrit gets the best of both dishes: the adobo for the softness of the pork, the saltiness and umami of soy sauce, while the laing adds a creamy coconut touch. It's a combination made in Bicol-food loving heaven, wonderful eaten with rice. Chicharon flakes on top add texture as well.

In third was Bakmi Nonya’s Babi Kekap Adobo Nyonya. At first glance, it looks like traditional adobo, but when you bite it, you realize it’s more. It’s adobo with some extra flavors – Indonesian, that is.

With sambal on the side for that additional piquant kick, this Indonesian-style adobo tells the story of how the Indonesian proprietor of Bakmi Nonya thrives in the Philippines.

Getting the People’s Choice Award was Lariza's Seafood Adobo. While hard to imagine, seafood adobo does exist, and Lariza’s Tess Gonzales’ version, which takes inspiration from its origins in Obando, Bulacan, gained fans aplenty during the event.

Take your seafood -- mussels, prawns, and crabs -- cook them in the adobo Bulacan-way using fish sauce (patis) and vinegar, and top with cheese to finish. The result? Think about grilled mussels with cheese, up the umami factor a bit, and there you have it.

Hosted by foodie Tonipet Gaba, with performances by Up Dharma Down and Ebe Dancel, the event was co-presented by Mercato Central, Our Awesome Planet, the Philippine Culinary Heritage Movement and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

The winners received start-up funds to include their dishes in the Mercato menu, while the People’s Choice awardee received a package from Datu Puti.

The Adobo Movement was launched in 2015. With activities like the Adobo Challenge, as well as online petitions in change.org, the movement aims to draw support to House Billl 3926 filed in 2014 by Bohol 1st District Rep. Rene Relampagos, which aims to formally declare adobo as the Philippines’ national dish.