• CHERYL G. CRUZ
More crowd-drawing events, like band performances, are scheduled in this year’s MassKara celebration as the Bacolod Yuhum Foundation (BYF) said Sept. 19 that about 80 sponsors will join the 45th staging of the city’s main festival.
The BYF said that more than 30 artists, including Cueshe, RKSTDY, TJ Monterde, Brownman Revival, BGYO, and Shamrock, as well as celebrities, are expected to invade Bacolod and entertain revelers at various event sites throughout the festival, from the Oct. 11 “salubong”, to the finale on Oct. 27.
“We have sponsors that will help us, most of these sponsors will be ones that will bring in national (and) even international artists,” Jericho Redil, treasurer and festival director for Good Governance, Finance, Procurement, and Admin, said in a press conference.
He said these sponsors will shoulder the expenses of performers, which means less incidentals for the BYF even with the plan to make this year’s festival an international celebration.
Redil said that even though the BYF did not earn in the first two years of handling the festival, the celebration still gained a lot of economic benefits for Bacolod.
He said that Mayor Alfredo Benitez even cited in his State of the City Address last July that the MassKara Festival “continues to draw crowds, here and abroad”, and that “the peak season of the tourism industry in Bacolod is October.”
“Tourist arrivals in 2023 reached 780,000, exceeding the number of tourists in 2022, by 22 percent, and contributing P15.2 billion to the local economy,” Benitez had said, adding the city has a “vibrant economy attracting more tourists”.
BYF president and festival director for Finance, Admin, Concerts, Events and Fair Katherine Matiling said in a statement that the growing number of sponsors is a testament to the festival’s reputation as a world-class event. “It has become bigger and larger each year because also of its exposure to international events, and the participation of popular artists.”
She said there were around 50 sponsors in last year’s festivity.
Councilor Jason Villarosa, chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Tourism, also said that the city, with the collective effort of all stakeholders, will try to make this year’s MassKara Festival successful, not only in the holding of events, but also in terms of earnings.
He said that while the BYF incurred losses in the past two years, the city and small businesses also gained millions, in terms of economic benefits. “This year, we will make sure that the MassKara Festival will be successful.”
The Bacolod police, meanwhile, said additional personnel will be deployed, starting Oct. 1, to ensure the safety of festival goers.
P/Lt. Col. Romeo Vargas of the Bacolod City Police Office Operations, said that with the increased number of sponsors and events, police visibility is critical in ensuring a peaceful and secure celebration.
“We will ask for more police force and augmentation from Police Regional Office in Western Visayas, and they will be deployed on Oct. 1,” Vargas said at the press conference.
There is no final decision yet on signal jamming, as authorities are still weighing the benefits and drawbacks of this security protocol, he added. | CGC
