“IT’S overwhelming and flattering.”
This was the reaction of Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia after President Rodrigo Duterte said that their festival in Davao City is almost good as MassKara Festival and that the City of Smiles has just a small advantage because the women here are beautiful.
“For him to say that, it’s overwhelming and flattering. We all know that the Kadayawan Festival in Davao City is one of the major festivals we have and that probably means, that for him the top two festivals in the Philippines are the Kadayawan and MassKara Festivals,” Leonardia said.
Duterte was here Saturday to attend the city’s annual festivity - his third time for three consecutive years.
Leonardia said: “We should be all happy with that, we should be inspired because the MassKara Festival is truly our treasure. We would like to thank the President for that statement and we can even use that for our tourism promotion efforts.”
He said the President again came for the third consecutive time which he called it a grand slam, a hall of fame and it is a perfect attendance.
“While we were walking, he told me that he (President) is happy to be back here and when the MassKara arena performance started, he said that ‘gwapo gyod.’ Apparently, he also enjoys the festival aside from the other reasons that he has personal friends here,” he added.
The mayor is also thankful to Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) President Jesus Clint Aranas for facilitating the visit of the president since 2016.
Leonardia said that five days before the highlights of the festival, he received an official communication from Malacañang that the President will not come here because of his tight schedule, but Aranas managed to arrange it again.
“So that has also elevated the MassKara to a cut above the rest. The people must have gotten more curious and interested with the MassKara Festival with the three years attendance of President Duterte,” he said.
Meanwhile, Leonardia said the just-concluded 39th MassKara Festival was generally peaceful with no major incidents reported.
From October 8 to 28, thousands of MassKara revelers flocked at the three festival sites - the Government Center, Tourism Strip, and the public plaza.
“The trend of MassKara just keeps on multiplying or increasing. We can even expect that by next year, it will be bigger. As an organizer, it’s our attitude to always do better than our best. That was a MassKara for the books in terms of crowds, a MassKara dance parade and fireworks among others with very high caliber celebrities who came like the President and his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio,” Leonardia said.
He said it’s also flattering that Google also celebrated the festival by featuring doodle.
The doodle depicts the search engine's letters in "colorful and festive-looking masks as they dance happily to the beat of the occasion."
Leonardia said is quite expected because MassaKara has already become that attractive.
Leonardia also congratulated Councilor Em Ang for sponsoring an ordinance celebrating the highlights of the MassKara Festival every fourth Sunday of October.
“That was meant to establish really the MassKara Festival a truly tourism event,” Leonardia said.
Aside from an ordinance, Leonardia said the Senate House Bill (HB) No. 7044 declaring June 18 as Bacolod City’s Charter Day will also mean the city’s inauguration will be commemorated every October 19 while the MassKara Festival will be celebrated every fourth Sunday of October.
He said they were informed that the bill was already forwarded to the Office of the President for signature.
For her part, Ang, action officer of MassKara Festival, said the festival celebration is unprecedented in terms of the magnitude, number of visitors including President Duterte, senators, ambassadors of New Zealand and Nigeria, local officials, among others.
She said the International Mask Arts and Culture Organization (Imaco) president and Korean-Pop boyband also enjoyed the festival.
“This year was really one of the biggest, if not the biggest MassKara Festival ever. It’s a very successful celebration,” she added.