BACOLOD City – Glass-bottled soda and beer and pointed barbecue sticks may soon be banned during the MassKara Festival and other festivals in the city.
Councilor Cindy Rojas authored a proposed ordinance seeking to prohibit the sale of bottled soda and beer and the use of pointed barbecue sticks during the city’s major celebrations.
Rojas said she made the proposal after Bacolod City Police Office head Senior Superintendent Francisco Ebreo made a suggestion for the upcoming MassKara Festival in October.
Ebreo wrote a letter to Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran suggesting that vendors during the festival must not be allowed to sell bottled soft drinks or beer and use pointed sticks.
Glass bottles and pointed sticks are sometimes used in stabbing incidents during MassKara. Banning their use and sale will help ensure public safety, Ebreo explained.
But Rojas said she wants this rule be applied in all festivals in Bacolod, like the Bacolod Chicken Inasal Festival, Diwali Festival and Bacolaodiat Festival, among others.
In 2016, the Sangguniang Panlungsod passed a resolution that Councilor Caesar Distrito authored prohibiting the carrying of glass bottles and pointed barbecue sticks in three MassKara Festival sites – the public plaza, the Bacolod City Government Center and the Tourism Strip on Lacson Street./PN
