The event, called “Inaugural Light of Peace Event in the Philippines: World Peace through Inner Peace,” was organized by the Middle Way Meditation Institute (MMI)-Philippines and its Thailand-based mother organization which promotes meditation.

Venerable Burin Thitakusalo, MMI director, said flying sky lanterns, a traditional form of prayer for Thais, is a way to encourage harmony and cultivate inner peace to attaining world peace.

Thousands of sky lanterns brightened the evening sky above the town on Friday as the Philippines lit its way into a new world record in the biggest number of sky lanterns let loose in one place simultaneously.

Seyda Subasi-Gemici, adjudicator and official representative of the Guinness World Records, said thousands of participants flew 15,185 sky lanterns at the football field of the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) in Miag-ao.