BACOLOD City – This year’s MassKara Festival street dance competition route will be shorter, according to festival organizers.
The Bacolod City Government Center replica at the city’s public plaza along Gonzaga Street will be the starting point of the street dance competition instead of beginning at the front of a mall on Rizal Street, Bacolod Yuhum Foundation (BYF) spokesperson Mate Espina disclosed in a media briefing on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
This came after Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez raised concern for the welfare of dancers, particularly from exhaustion amid the heat and a possible loss of consciousness.
Earlier on Monday, Jecko Redil, treasurer and director for the finance and good governance committee of the BYF, told the media that the street dance will kick off at SM City-Bacolod to accommodate their request to be part of the festival, too, being one of the major sponsors.
Despite the change, the parade will still end at the Paglaum Sports Complex, where the 10 participating barangays will perform for the arena competition.
Meanwhile, Bacolod Traffic Authority Office head Police Major Junji Liba said no more public utility vehicle routes will be affected because of the shortened parade route.
The parade’s initial starting point would have rerouted 10 routes of modernized jeepneys and seven routes of traditional jeepneys./PN
