“MassKara Festival has become a unifying factor because it has strengthened our bond as Bacoleños.”

This is what Mayor Evelio Leonardia said at the closing rites of the MassKara Festival 2012 at the Bacolod City Public Plaza last night where he thanked the people of Bacolod for their unity and cooperation in making the 33rd edition of MassKara.

“It shows that if we are in harmonyand are cooperating with one another we can make better things possible”, Leonardia said.

“Every year, we also see the artistry and the genius of Bacoleños appearing during the MassKara Festival that show the products of their hard work and sweat,” Leonardia added.

This year’s festival, he said, is the grandest ever, which confirms that, indeed, MassKara has become more than just an icon, but a world-class annual event in the Philippines.

NOTED BY CNN

No less than the international news channel Cable News Network (CNN) has named Bacolod’s MassKara Festival as “one of the 12 best things in the Philippines,” he said.

In its CNN iReport: Eye on the Philippines posted on its websitewww.edition.cnn.comrecently, the MassKara Festival was listed eighth among the 12 best things in the country.

The mayor said the 2012 MassKara was his 12thas a mayor, and since this was the last edition of the festival under him as a mayor, he had asked the festival organizers to make it the “grandest MassKara Festival ever.”

Leonardia also said that even the mayors who attended the three-day League of Cities in the Philippines meet at the L’ Fisher Hotel, were surprised at the mass of people coming to Bacolod and attending the MassKara.

He said the number of flights coming to the city in the past two weeks have set a record high, while the hotels were fully booked long before the festival started. In fact, some visitors have already made reservations for next year, he said.

The closing ceremonies last night were capped with fireworks display and the awarding of winners in the different events and competitions.

GENERALLY PEACEFUL

Bacolod City Police Director Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz said that this year’s festival was generally peaceful with isolated shooting and stabbing incidents happening outside the festival site.

The implementation of the gun ban for 23 days also helped in minimizing firearm-related incidents at the Public Plaza and at the Lacson Tourism strip, he also said.

The traffic situation now is also far better than that of last year because the traffic plan was well prepared, de la Paz said.

CANCELLED PROGRAM

The GMA -13 Bacolod DanssKara: The MassKara Dance showdown contest, was cancelled last night after the performance of the second group because the rain started to pour and the stage had become wet and slippery and would be dangerous for the participants , festival director Eli Tajanlangit, said last night.

It will be moved to the Bacolod Bay Center at 2 p.m. today, and the awarding of the winners of the Tanda, Sing na Dance Pa contest, last night will also be held today.

But despite the rains, GMA went on with its Kapuso Show featuringGeoff Eigenmann, Mark Herras, Rochelle Pangilinan and Mark Bautista.*APN

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