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BY MAE SINGUAY
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February 15, 2018
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BACOLOD City – The four-day celebration of the 13th Bacolaodiat Festival will start with a parade at 4 p.m. today.
The parade will start from the public plaza to the South Capitol Road where the opening ceremony will be held.
The organizers of the local celebration to welcome the Lunar New Year have banned the sale and consumption of beverages with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in festival sites.
“There will be no Coca-Cola and Pepsi products during the festival,” the Bacolaodiat, Inc. said in a statement on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the festival will only accommodate San Miguel Cola, which uses 100 percent locally produced sugar in its beverages.
The ban is in support to the sugar industry and city government’s campaign against HFCS, the statement added.
The Sugar Alliance of the Philippines has earlier pushed for the HFCS ban in the festival, which Mayor EvelioLeonardia supported.
“I am for the sugar industry. I go along the lines for the protection and promotion of the sugar industry…the industry actually started in Bacolod,” said Leonardia.
Meanwhile, the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) has informed the public that there will be suspension of all permits to carry firearms outside of residence in relation to the conduct of the festival.
The gun ban will take effect today until Feb. 19, the BCPO said.
Only uniformed members of the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other law enforcement agencies who would perform official duties will be allowed to carry firearms, added the BCPO.
The gun ban is part of the security measures for the Bacolaodiat Festival.
Yesterday, BCPO officer-in-charge Senior Superintendent Francisco Ebreo gave instructions to security personnel who will be deployed to strategic areas in the city during the festival./PN
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