[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Bacolaodiat ‘successful, generally peaceful’ – police’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=’#0a0a0a’]
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_image src=’http://www.panaynews.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/negros-mae-baco-peace-1-495×374.jpg’ attachment=’94855′ attachment_size=’portfolio’ align=’center’ styling=” hover=” link=” target=” caption=’yes’ font_size=’13’ appearance=’on-hover’ overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’ animation=’no-animation’]
Fireworks light up the sky above the Bacolod City Government Center on Sunday evening, Jan. 29, during the “Symphony of Lights and Sparks” on the last day of the Bacolaodiat Festival. ARCHIE REY ALIPALO/PN
[/av_image]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=’#0a0a0a’]
BACOLOD City – “Successful” and “generally peaceful” was how the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) described the 12th Bacolaodiat Festival.
The local Chinese New Year celebration was also a “well-attended activity,” according to Senior Superintendent Jack Wanky.
A stabbing incident was reported, but the police were able to immediately respond, and unlike last year, there were no incidents of picking pockets and bukas-kotse, the BCPO officer-in-charge said.
Bacolaodiat started on Friday, Jan. 27 and ended on Sunday.
‘THANK YOU, MAYOR’
In a related development, Bacolaodiat organizers gave Mayor Evelio Leonardia a plaque of appreciation during the Spring Festival Gala at the SMX Convention Center on Saturday, Jan. 28 for “planting the seed within the Bacolod Chinoy community to unite and to share the Chinese culture.”
All chairpersons since the festival started 12 years ago — Alfredo Barcelona (2006), Luis Chan (2007), William Ong (2008), Leonito Lopue (2009 to 2013), and Jennifer Gochangco-Ong (2014 to 2017) — signed the plaque.
Bacolaodiat was Leonardia’s brainchild. It started in 2006 during his second term as mayor.
The chairpersons recognized the mayor for “providing extraordinary support” to the celebration of the Chinese New Year, thereby making BacoLaodiat “one of the major festivals of the city.”
Last week Ong wrote Leonardia to commend him for fostering unity in the Chinese community.
“Since you assumed the mayorship of Bacolod in July 2004, with only a one-term break in 2013, you have made great strides in initiating and fostering unity among the Chinoys,” she wrote on Jan. 23.
“You have inspired and given us a good cause to bond together,” she added./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
