Lawyer Pinky Mirano-Ocampo, president of Bacolod Yuhum Foundation Inc., said yesterday, October 20, that Marcos and First Lady Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos and some senators are expected to attend the highlights of the festival at the Paglaum Sports Complex.
Mirano-Ocampo said they are also waiting for the confirmation of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Aside from politicians, some celebrities are also expected to grace the festival.
The street and arena dance competition at 1 p.m. on Sunday will be participated in by 17 barangays whose contingents will dance their way from RCBC along Rizal Street going to the Paglaum Sports Complex, where the arena dance competition will be held.
On Saturday, October 22, the Electric MassKara Competition will start at 6 p.m. and will be participated by 13 barangays whose festival dancers will perform on floats that will traverse from Megaworld’s The Upper East going to the Bacolod City Government Center.
Mirano-Ocampo said both venues are open to the public. It’s for free, she said.
Councilor Jason Villarosa, chairperson of the City Council committee on tourism, earlier said Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez already approved the P1 million cash prize for the street and arena dance champion and P500,000 for the top winner of the electric performing float competition.
In a related development, the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) has received 863 additional security personnel from Police Regional Office (PRO)-Western Visayas yesterday, October 20, to ensure the peace and order during the festival highlights.
BCPO records showed that the augmentation personnel came from Iloilo Police Provincial Office (Ippo), Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo), and Guimaras Police Provincial Office (GPPO).
They will be deployed in various festival sites such as the Bacolod Government Center, public plaza, Baywalk Area, Megaworld’s The Upper East, Panaad Park and Stadium, and Lacson Street.
BCPO earlier received more than 1, 000 augmentation personnel from PRO-6 to ensure the security of 43rd MassKara Festival revelers.
Lieutenant Colonel Sherlock Gabana, spokesperson of BCPO, earlier said that from October 1 to 17, Bacolod City was generally peaceful with no major untoward incident related to the celebration of the festival.
He said Colonel Thomas Joseph Martir, director of BCPO, also directed all the security personnel to observe the dos and don’ts while on duty during the MassKara Festival.
Themed “Balik Yuhom” (Smile Again), this year’s festivity will be celebrated from October 1 to 23 after two years of hiatus due to the ongoing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.*