Masskara History and Information

The MassKara Festival is a week-long festival held each year in Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occidental province in the Philippines every third weekend of October nearest October 19, the city's Charter Anniversary.


Brief History

The festival first began in 1980 during a period of crisis. The province relied on sugar cane as its primary agricultural crop, and the price of sugar was at an all-time low due to the introduction of sugar substitutes like high fructose corn syrup in the United States.It was also a time of tragedy; on April 22 of that year, the inter-island vessel Don Juan carrying many Negrenses, including those belonging to prominent families in Bacolod City, collided with the tanker Tacloban City and sank. An estimated 700 lives were lost in the tragedy.

In the midst of these tragic events, the city's artists, local government and civic groups decided to hold a festival of smiles, because the city at that time was also known as the City of Smiles. They reasoned that a festival was also a good opportunity to pull the residents out of the pervasive gloomy atmosphere. The initial festival was therefore, a declaration by the people of the city that no matter how tough and bad the times were, Bacolod City is going to pull through, survive, and in the end, triumph.

Features

The festival features a street dance competition where people from all walks of life troop to the streets to see colorfully-masked dancers gyrating to the rhythm of Latin musical beats in a display of mastery, gaiety, coordination and stamina. Major activities include the MassKara Queen beauty pageant, carnivals, drum and bugle corps competitions, food festivals, sports events, musical concerts, agriculture-trade fairs, garden shows, and other special events organized ad-hoc every year.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MassKara_Festival

Masskara Festival 2008

MassKara: A Thousand Smiles Per Minute By: Imogene S. Kana-an, Bacolod City Tourism Officer What started as "just a new activity" to spice up an otherwisese routine civic-military parade, awarding ceremonies and a literary-musical program for a city charter anniversary, Bacolod City's MassKara Festival is now 3 years short of its third decade and has already become of the entries of the Philippines to the global tourism community. The MassKara Festival of Bacolod City has repeatedly represented the country in some major festivals in Asia, notably in the Chinggay Festival in Singapore in 1998, the Lunar Festival of Hong Kong in 2001, in the International Tourism Festival of Shanghai in 2004 and in the Midosuji Festival Parade of Osaka, Japan, emerging as champion in the foreign category and first runner-up in the local category - the first award to be given to a foreign participant in the 10-year history of that Japanese festival. Among the Philippine festivals, MassKara is one that has also been to almost all major festivals in the Visayas and Luzon. mostly on exhibition performances. During the 23rd Asian Games held in Bacolod City in November 2005, the MassKara dance got the most applause from the athletes, visiting dignitaries and the international press covering the event. The word MassKara has a double meaning. First, it is a fusion of the English word "mass" or many and "kara", the Spanish word for "face." MassKara then becomes a "mass of faces," and these faces have to be smiling to project Bacolod already known in the late 70's as the City of Smiles. MassKara also is the dialect "maskara" for the English word mask, which gives rise to the use of giant smiling masks in varied hues, colors and brilliance which the gaily costumed dancers wear as they stomp, swing, pulsate and gyrate in the major streets of the city every third weeded nearest to the 19th of October, which is the City Charter Anniversary of Bacolod. The concept of combining the English word "mass" and the Spanish word "kara" is a mind product of the then Art Association of Bacolod president, the late Ely Santiago, with the support of the late city councilor chairman of the committee councilor on tourism, Romeo Geocadin and the then Negros Occidental Department of Tourism head and now city mayor of Bacolod, Atty. Evelio R. Leonardia, the concept has become a reality, with the city having her first MassKara Festival in 1981. After two or three years, the MassKara would have died a natural death. But thanks to the tenacity of an Evelio R.Leonardia to lobby at the city council and to initiate the movement among tourism stakeholders, the festival moved on, year after year, despite political economic, natural or man-made impediments. Now, after 28 years, it has not only attained its recognized festival stature- as a national ANVIL awardee of the Philippine Public Relation Society - but also as one major tourism identity for Bacolod City. Through the years, MassKara has evolved and has undergone a lot of changes from its attempt during its start in 1980 to be historical by portraying vignettes of Philippine history, to the time when it has become a symbol of survival, when the sugar industry as the lifeblood of the Bacolenos continued to plummet down. The long years of affluence and abundance brought about by the sugar industry, with Bacolod as its center of trade and commerce, has made the Bacoleno a lover of the good life. He knows how to laugh heartily while his fine taste is seen in his cuisine, in dressing, the sports he indulges in and the kind of car his bulging pocket chooses. But beneath all these, he is also resilient because he knows how to take things in stride in times of crisis. He can still smile as sincerely as during the times of plenty. Decades after the backlash of the sugar industry, Bacolod now no longer depends on this cash crop and the Bacoleno still celebrates life along the mainstream of contemporary events, industry and technology. The MassKara Festival is here to stay, an icon for Bacolod as the City of Smiles. Today, with the more than four hundred fifty thousand Bacolenos giving their warmest smiles, MassKara becomes a festival of a thousand smiles per minute, projecting the Bacoleno's ability to smile, to be gregarious and charming and to shoe his instinct to survive and triumph over trials and challenges. MassKara is not history nor is it anchored on any historical, religious or cultural event. Artistic, yes. MassKara is simply his story, that is the Bacoleno as a human being whose innate capacity for goodness, happiness and beauty is expressed in the sights, sounds, color and rhythm of a people celebrating the might and bounty of a Great Creator.

Source: http://www.bacolodcity.gov.ph/bacolod_masskara_festival.htm

The New Bacolod Silay International Airport

As you land in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, fondly called the "City of Smiles", a new and spanking airport greets you. Finally, after a long wait, the new Bacolod Silay International Airport is now open and operational, welcoming guests, tourists, balikbayans, Negrenses and the like.

The new airport is located in Silay City, not far from Bacolod, once known as the "Paris of Negros Occidental". Silay is known for its old houses which attest to the grandeur and victory of the opulent sugar industry long before the great depression of the 80's.

Now, the new international airport serves the general area of Bacolod City, the capital city of Negros Occidental in the Philippines. This airport replaced the Bacolod City Domestic Airport located in Bacolod City proper. The Bacolod-Silay City International Airport inherited its IATA and ICAO airport codes from the former.

The airport is located 15 kilometers northeast of Bacolod City on a 181-hectare site in Barangay Bagtic, Silay City. The airport is the 3rd international airport in the Visayas and the 2nd international airport in the Western Visayas region, after Mactan-Cebu International Airport and Iloilo International Airport, and the 1st international airport built on the island of Negros.

A Brief History

Planning for a new airport in Bacolod City commenced in 1997, when the Japan International Cooperation Agency initiated a study indicating the need for expansion at four Philippine airports: namely Bacolod City Domestic Airport, Mandurriao Airport in Iloilo City, Legazpi Airport in Legazpi City and Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban City.Of the four airports, two have been completed (Iloilo and Bacolod), and two are in planning (Legazpi and Tacloban).

In February 1999, another JICA study was commissioned, this time on the detailed plan of the new airport. The study was completed by March 2000 and was funded by a 430-million yen grant. Immediately after the completion of the study, JICA hired Pacific Consultants International as advisers to the project.

The project was opened for bidding on August 25, 2003, with the winning bid going to the Takenaka-Itochu Joint Venture (TIJV). Physical construction on the new 4.3 billion-peso airport, funded in part by an 8.2-billion yen loan, commenced in August 2004. A 900-day deadline was imposed for the airport to be completed,which broadly corresponds to January 2007.

The airport was complete as of July 16, 2007, although there was considerable debate over whether or not the airport should be opened due to the length of its runway.A 500-meter extension of the runway was planned in order for the airport to accommodate larger aircraft.Depending on the scenario, the airport had a foreseen opening date of November 2007 or sometime in 2010, after the completion of a diversion road leading to the airport.

The first aircraft ever to land at the airport was a small fourteen-seater turboprop owned by Vincent Aviation. The Reims-Cessna F406 with aircraft registration number ZK-VAF, piloted by Steve Gray of New Zealand landed at the airport at 9:55 in the morning of September 26, 2007. The airport officially opened and began operations on January 18, 2008.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacolod-Silay_City_International_Airport

In the News

New Bacolod-Silay Airport complements super-region strategy
Wednesday, January 23, 2008

THE P5.6-billion New Bacolod-Silay Airport, which has been operational four days ago, complements the super region strategy of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Negros Occidental, the province where the new airport of international standards is located is part of the Central Philippines, which is under the super region strategy adopted by the President prioritizes tourism investments and energy independence.

Sun.Star Network Online's coverage of the Sinulog 2008 Festival

"The new airport gives further emphasis to the super region strategy to promote and hasten further economic growth and development nationwide with the focus on the comparative advantages per region and provinces to promote more effective and efficient complementation in the forward-backward linkages," Vice President Noli de Castro said in his message during the inauguration of the New Bacolod-Silay Airport.

De Castro added that under the strategy, the government is committed to pursue prioritized program of airport development to trigger business. This (airport) will open a gateway to regional centers and promote major tourism destination and to make tourism promotion the primary development plot to Central Philippines.

Japanese Embassy Representative Eiichi Oshima during the inauguration revealed that based on statistics the old Bacolod Airport is the fifth biggest airport in terms of the volume of domestic passengers in the country and has continually increased by more than 50 percent in the past ten years.

Thus, according to Oshima, a bigger and more efficient airport is needed to meet this demand and the completion of the New Bacolod-Silay Airport meets the demand that will eventually increase the economic activity in the province and improve the lives of the Negrenses.

"With the new airport in Silay, it offers endless opportunities for the city but it does not mean loss for Bacolod, rather it (Bacolod) can focus on its competitive edge in commerce and business and as a highly urbanized city, it has the potential to develop the old airport into a central business area or a commercial mix-use area," de Castro added.

The New Bacolod-Silay airport is an example of a project where the government is an active facilitator for other donors like Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to come in for financial assistance.

Source: sunstar.com.ph



New Bacolod-Silay airport opened
January 18th, 2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro R. Mendoza opened yesterday for commercial operations the P5.7-billion New Bacolod-Silay Airport.

The new Bacolod-Silay Airport will replace the existing Bacolod City Airport.

Located in Barangay Bagtic, Silay City, the new airport was built to cater to the increasing number of passenger and cargo traffic in Negros Occidental and its influence areas.

"It will boost the business and economic activities in the Western Visayas region," Mendoza said.

Vice President Noli de Castro led the inauguration ceremonies together with Secretary Mendoza.

Construction of the new airport was funded under the New Bacolod (Silay) Airport Development Project of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for P5.6 billon.

Source: http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=55&a=25525