Bacolod’s 3rd Rum Festival set on August 12 to 20

THE City Government of Bacolod is now all set for the third Rum Festival, sponsored by Tanduay Distillers Inc., on August 12–20. Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said that it will be a very exciting celebration and event in the city. “It’s a prelude to our very famous festival this coming October, the MassKara Festival,” he said. He added that last year, this was one of the first events that was hosted in Bacolod, and it became a very successful event. It became the appetizer for the city’s grand festival. Benitez stressed that the home of number one rum is Bacolod City. “This is a huge impact in terms of awareness of the City of Bacolod that every time somebody drinks Tanduay rum in the other part of the country, they should be thinking of Bacolod. So, we would like to enhance the branding of Tanduay together with Bacolod City so that we will become worldwide,” he said. He added that he will ask the City Council to pass an ordinance recognizing Tanduay as a key to the city. Benitez also expressed his gratitude to all the sponsors and partners for making Bacolod again a destination of choice, especially for this kind of event. Councilor Jason Villarosa, chairperson of the City Council committee on tourism, said the special guests of the Rum Festival include Derek Ramsay, Kylie Verzosa, and Ely Buendia. He said the opening of the festival will be held on August 12 at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) and the opening the Food Park at the BCGC, adding that other activities include the barrel art competition, culinarian, mixology and flairtending competitions, adding that the Tanduay Ambassadors will also visit the BCGC. Villarosa noted that the city government allotted P340,000 with the assistance of Tanduay for the festival. Councilor Em Ang, who authored an ordinance declaring the third week of August as celebration of Rum Festival in the city, also said that the first staging of Rum Festival was in August 2019 after City Ordinance 898 was passed in May 2019. Ang said sugar cane has been the major product in Bacolod City and the Province of Negros Occidental, and the plantation of the same has also been the major source of employment for the citizens. She said Bacolod City, dubbed the Sugar Capital of the Philippines, is also home to the world’s largest selling rum. Rum is a distilled, clear alcoholic beverage that is either a by-product of molasses production or made directly from sugar cane juice. “After 2019, we were stalled by the pandemic, so for 2020 and 2021, we didn’t have the festival, and we came back in 2022. It signaled the return of the face-to-face activities and the resumption of the festivals in the city,” Ang said. She said technically, this year is the third staging of the Rum Festival, and they are expecting a bigger and better festival. For her part, Charmain Pahate, managing director of Eggshell Worldwide Inc., said this year’s Rum Festival, aside from Buendia’s band, who will be singing Eraserheads songs, will have a nationwide Tanduay mixology contest, and the finals will be held in Bacolod City. “So we are expecting a lot of tourists, representatives of different provinces to come to Bacolod City, and the winners will be finalized here,” she said. She added that the representatives, who will be winning the particular flairtending and mixology competitions, will compete in Singapore to represent the Philippines. Pahate noted that in the elimination round, the winner will take home P30,000, and in the final, the winner will take home P50,000. “Hopefully, Bacolod City participants will win to represent the Philippines in Singapore,” Pahate said. She said they will also set up about 40 kiosks around the BCGC for the nine-day events. Moreover, Benitez said he will ask the kiosk operators to follow the age limit in terms of serving liquor around the BCGC.*