Image from Masskara Festival Facebook page
BACOLOD CITY – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos are expected as the guests of honor during the Masskara Festival, which returns in October after a two-year respite due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said he has extended the invitation to the first couple while his son, Victorias City Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez, has also invited presidential son, Ilocos Norte First District Representative Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos, to attend the festival.
“I have personally invited the President and the First Lady and their family. Mayor Javi(er) has also invited his close friend, Congressman Sandro. All of them have confirmed (to come),” Benitez said during the gala event for the Masskara Festival sponsors at the Stonehill Suites on Sunday afternoon.
This year’s festival, themed “Balik Yuhum”, which translates to smile again or bring back the smile, will be held on Oct. 21 to 23.
In his message, Benitez urged the organizers and the Bacolodnons to give their best to make the festival successful.
“We want to bring back what we have lost during the pandemic. It is very important that we should give our best effort in making this a very successful event,” he said.
Benitez said Bacolod wants to make sure the whole country knows about Masskara Festival to send a signal that the city is back in business.
“In the ‘City of Smiles’, let us bring back the smiles,” he added.
Lawyer Pinky Mirano-Ocampo, festival director and president of Bacolod Yuhum Foundation, said Bacolod is going to “celebrate the grandest Masskara this October 2022”.
“We may have been through difficult roads, but seeing you all here overwhelmed the doubt and uncertainty,” she told the officials and sponsors.
In a press statement, organizers said the theme “Balik Yuhum” reminds and inspires the Bacolodnons that despite the complexities of life especially during the height of Covid-19 pandemic, everyone “should work and unite together in bringing back those beautiful, radiant and iconic smiles that made Masskara Festival unique in so many ways”.
The three-week festivity will feature sports events, trade shows and expos, cultural events, and parties and musical festivals.
During the much-awaited Masska Festival street and arena dance competition on the final day on Oct. 23, dancers from various barangays will perform on the streets before the final showdown at the Paglaum Sports Complex. (PNA)
