BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the 12th BacoLaodiat Festival opened with a “big bang” at the North Capitol Road on Friday afternoon.
Leonardia said this year’s event has a much bigger opening ceremony than the previous festivals and “significantly this is the 12th, or the last of all the 12 animals.”
The opening ceremony started with the Dazzling Grand Parade from the Bacolod Public Plaza towards the North Capitol Road participated by various Chinese community groups, city officials, and students from different schools, including non-Chinese schools.
Leonardia said the BacoLaodiat has unified the Filipino-Chinese community and the people of Bacolod.
“I believe it is now time for BacoLaodiat to graduate into a full-fledged tourist attraction. We subscribe to the orientation that tourism is going to become the biggest industry in the world,” he said.
“The Chinese market, the outbound tourists of China, will reach as much as a 100 million a year so getting a slice from that is something very big for us in Bacolod,” the mayor added.
Leonardia requested the organizer of the BacoLaodiat that for next year, they should start the direction of getting more operators and agents involved so that he could declare the date when the BacoLaodiat will have a chartered flight direct from China and other countries.
The mayor encouraged the public to visit North Capitol Road to enjoy the festival activities.
The festival, which ushers in the Year of the Rooster, is themed “Rising Dawn of Success.” It is being held in three festival sites – North Capitol Road, Yuan Thong Temple, and Bacolod Government Center. It will run until Sunday.
BacoLaodiat chairperson Jennifer Gochangco-Ong said she is thankful for the success of the opening of the festival.
She said she is happy that several groups in Bacolod joined the parade.
Gochangco-Ong added that next year, they will add more gimmicks for the BacoLaodiat revelers so that they will keep coming back and welcome the New Year with fire in their hearths.
Today, Jan. 28, there will be a lantern dance competition from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and the top three winners will be announced. It will be followed by a fireworks show at 11 p.m.
On Sunday, Jan. 29, the Bacolod Government Center will host the closing ceremonies and awarding of top three lantern dance winners at 7 p.m., followed by a fireworks display and the Globe night.
Senior Superintendent Jack Wanky, officer-in-charge of Bacolod City Police Office, said he was still waiting for the reply of the Philippine National Police national headquarters on their request to shut down mobile phone network services in the festival sites.
He said that if it will not materialize, they are still on alert and they have coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard.
The BCPO deployed about 250 policemen, including augmentation personnel from the Regional Public Safety Battalion in Victorias City.
Wanky said that bladed weapons and other pointed objects as well as backpacks are prohibited in the festival sites.