‘BacoLaodiat’ festival kicks off

Saturday, January 21, 2012

THE 17th BacoLaodiat Festival kicked off Friday with a grand parade from SM City Bacolod to North Capitol Road beside the Provincial Capitol.

Bacolod city Mayor Evelio R. Leonardia, accompanied by wife Elsa, led city officials Vice-Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson and Councilors Em Ang, Caesar Distrito, Catalino Alisbo and Sonia Verdeflor in the parade.

BACOLOD. BacoLaodiat Festival Chairman Dr. Leonito Lopue (6th from L) and Mayor Evelio Leonardia (7th from L) lead officials in the offering of incense during the opening of the 7th BacoLaodiat Festival to welcome the Year of the Dragon. (Raphael Y. Bacaoco)

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The Filipino-Chinese community was led by BacoLaodiat Festival chairman Dr. Leonito Lopue, vice chairman Crispin Chua, William Ong, Fred Barcelona and Andres Valencia, among others.

Leonardia lauded the inspiring response of the Filipino-Chinese leaders after he first brought up the idea of holding a Chinese New Year festival in the city seven years ago, which replicated the Chinese celebration in Iloilo City.

“BacoLaodiat is here to stay because our local government started this, the Filipino-Chinese community supported this and, most of all, our people accepted and embraced this!” Leonardia said.

“It seems that it was only yesterday when I brought the Filipino Chinese leaders in Iloilo to take a look at how Iloilo celebrates the festival. The year after, through the positive and enthusiastic response of our Chinese community, we were able to create a united Bacolod Filipino Chinese community out of different groups which have their own identities,” he said.

BACOLOD. Dragon dance by Amity Dragon Dance Team kicks off the opening program of the 7th BacoLaodiat Festival Friday. (Raphael Y. Bacaoco)

“We were so lucky that, with Mr. Fred Barcelona chairing the first festival in 2006, followed by Mr. Luis Chan in 2007 and then by Mr. William Ong in 2008 and, since 2008, Mr. Leonito Lopue, we have seen that the BacoLaodiat since its inception has grown by leaps and bounds,” he stressed.

“Our philosophy in the administration is that we should always be doing better than our best. What we have seen in the years of the BacoLaodiat is that, every year, the festival just becomes better and bigger,” Leonardia said.

The mayor said that according to a study, 130 million Chinese, empowered by their increased purchasing power due to the sustained economic growth in China, can afford to travel abroad by 2020.

He envisions that, through the BacoLaodiat, the city can get its fair share of the 130 million potential Chinese tourists by 2020.

“When the Chinese New Year season comes, the Chinese want to go on vacation and to travel. So if we have a BacoLaodiat here, in effect, we are giving them an opportunity to hit two birds with one stone,” said Leonardia.

“They satisfy their desire to travel and, at the same time, they can still celebrate the Chinese New Year here. This is what Bacolod is offering and I can say without fear of contradiction that, in the whole Philippines, we have one of the most attractive, most colorful and one of the biggest celebrations of the Chinese New Year,” he said.

Councilor Ang said the Dragon is a very revered symbol, and 2012 is expected to be a good year for the economy. “I hope that this year, our country will experience economic gains that will redound to the improvement of the life of every family. Let us usher in the New Year with hope, renewed energy and positive attitude,” she said.