A TOTAL OF 16 barangays in Bacolod City will participate in this year’s MassKara Festival Street and Arena Dance Competition, an official said Monday, August 15, 2022.

Councilor Jason Villarosa, chairperson of the city council committee on tourism, said Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez yesterday confirmed that there will be 16 barangays qualified for Street and Arena Dance Competition.

Aside from the 16 barangays, he said, another 15 barangays were also qualified for the electric performing float competition for the highlights of the 43rd edition of the MassKara Festival in October.

MassKara Festival will be celebrated in Bacolod City again from October 1 to 23 after two years of hiatus due to the ongoing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

Villarosa said the city government will also provide financial assistance to the participating barangays.

He said the festival organizers led by its director Pinky Mirano-Ocampo will soon release the lists of the participating barangays.

For this year’s celebration, he added, they did not include the school category for the street dance competition since the face-to-face classes will start in November this year.

“We don’t want to sacrifice the health of our students because of the pandemic,” Villarosa stressed.

Benitez earlier said that it’s almost confirmed that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio will grace the festivity.

For now, he said, there’s no allocation yet for the festival event and they only have less than P2 million available for this “due to the old budget.”

“We are not sure yet, if it (budget) will be given to the foundation or will be given directly to the barangay that will participate in MassKara Festival activities,” he added.

With the plans that they have for the MassKara this year, Benitez also disclosed, it will probably be one of the most expensive staging of the festivity.