“BACOLOD City is known all over the world because of our very famous and very delicious chicken inasal.”
This was stressed by Bacolod City Lone District Representative Greg Gasataya during the opening of Second Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival at Araneta Street on Saturday, May 25.
Gasataya, along with Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and Councilor Cindy Rojas, officially opened the festival with a 300-meter long grilled chicken at Araneta Street, from Diamond Jubilee Tower towards San-Sebastian Street.
City Mayor Evelio Leonardia was not able to attend the festival because of the burial of his elder sister, Perla.
The city officials also joined the boodle fight with the senior citizens from the 61 barangays as beneficiaries of the festival.
Gasataya said most of his colleagues in Congress were also asking him to bring more chicken inasal in Manila.
“We have very delicious chicken inasal and it makes us famous in the whole world,” he said.
Familiaran also said that Bacolod is promoting the delicious and best inasal in the whole world.
“This is the reason why we focus on the festival. While we are attracting tourists, we are also attracting investors here,” he said.
He added that those who engaged in chicken inasal business in Bacolod were already successful.
Gasataya and Familiaran were also thankful for the participation of the chicken vendors in the festival.
For her part, Rojas, chairperson of the Inasal Festival, said that she’s thankful for a successful staging of the Second Chicken Inasal Festival
Rojas said the festival drew crowds who joined the grilling of about 3, 000 chickens from Diamond Jubilee Tower towards San-Sebastian Street.
“The Chicken Inasal industry here is growing. When you say chicken inasal, the first city that comes to your mind is Bacolod City,” she said.
Aside from grilling of chicken, a dance showdown was also held at the Bacolod public plaza as well as Chicken Inasal Fantasy Costume and ‘Sawsawan’ contests.
Rojas noted that next year, they are going to extend the length of the grilling stations and the number of pieces of chicken.
In 2018, the City Council approved the amendment of some provisions in the City Ordinance No. 482, known as the “Manokan Country Inasal Festival” in the City of Bacolod, like the coverage of the festival and the budget.
Rojas said based on the ordinance, the city will allocate P2 million for the festival, but they only used half of the budget for the city’s savings.
In 2018, the celebration was officially opened by Ambassador of Russia to the Philippines Igor Khovaev and the beneficiary of the free chicken were the street children.
Rojas said they also envisioned to make Chicken Inasal Festival like the BacoLaodiat Festival.
“It’s still a baby festival (inasal festival) and we are trying to develop and improve it every year. It’s also the expectation of Mayor Leonardia to celebrate it longer and bigger. Next year, we will make it bigger and grander,” she said.
She added that this year, they only have less than 10 days of preparation because of the local and national elections.
Rojas disclosed that the festival also aim to attract more tourists from neighboring cities and municipalities in Negros Occidental as well as in other regions.