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[av_heading heading=’MassKara opening moved to Oct. 2′ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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BACOLOD City – Because President Rodrigo Duterte cannot make it on Oct. 1, the opening ceremony for this year’s MassKara Festival was moved to Oct. 2.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia confirmed this. He spoke with Bureau of Internal Revenue deputy commissioner Jesus Clint Aranas regarding the President’s schedule.
Yves Akol, secretary-general of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan, also said this will give Duterte some time upon arriving from Vietnam.
Duterte flew to Vietnam yesterday for a two-day working visit to strengthen the Philippines’ diplomatic and economic relations with the neighboring country.
Originally, MassKara Festival’s opening ceremony was set at 6 p.m. on Oct. 1.
Leonardia has always said the organizers and the city government are willing to adjust to the President’s availability.
The time on Oct. 2 will depend on when Duterte is ready, the mayor said.
Leonardia, however, said all MassKara activities — except for the opening ceremony — will go on as scheduled.
On Oct. 1, there will be a medical mission from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the BAYS Center; MassKara Queen press presentation, 12 noon, at the Business Inn Hotel; drum and bugle competition, 3 p.m.; carnival site opening, 5 p.m., at the New Government Center; and “Smart Entertainment,” 7 p.m., at the public plaza.
Leonardia has proposed that the opening be held at the public plaza to allow more people to see Duterte but said the city government and the organizers are also considering factors like security and weather.
Two venues will be readied for the opening — the public plaza and the New Government Center (city hall) — and the President’s security team may choose which they prefer, said Leonardia.
With Duterte’s presence, the opening ceremony for the festival’s 37th edition will “probably be the most exciting the city ever had,” the mayor had said.
SECURITY, TRAFFIC
Around 850 police officers from Bacolod City and Negros Occidental will maintain peace and order during the festival, according to Superintendent Noel Polines, operations chief of the city police.
K9 units from the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency will be deployed, too, he said.
“Security will be tight at entrances and exits of festival sites,” stressed Polines.
There are three festival sites this year: the public plaza, the New Government Center and the Tourism Strip on Lacson Street.
Superintendent Luisito Acebuche, incoming officer-in-charge of the Bacolod Traffic Authority Office (BTAO), said the traffic routine for this year’s festival has been applied during the previous editions.
“We will just strengthen the implementation of traffic rules,” Acebuche said.
Around 250 traffic enforcers will be deployed across the city to manage vehicular congestion, said outgoing BTAO chief Armando Tubongbanua./PN
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