PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will lead the opening of the 37th MassKara Festival on October 1, Saturday.
The President’s attendance was confirmed by Bureau of Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Clint Aranas in a telephone interview with City Hall reporters during the press conference called by Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Tuesday.
Duterte will be in Bacolod from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., he said.
“The President will come to only open the MassKara Festival,” he added.
Aranas said Duterte will proceed to Bacolod from Vietnam where he is scheduled to visit for two days from Sept. 28 to 29.
Personnel of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) will arrive in Bacolod anytime this week.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia had sent an invitation to Duterte, asking him to be the special guest in this year’s festival opening.
Leonardia said it is overwhelming that the President accepted the invitation, adding that he is very thankful to Aranas, who is a Negrense, for facilitating the presidential visit.
“With his (President Duterte) presence alone, we can say that the 2016 MassKara Festival is off to its greatest start. It is very flattering for us here since he is coming straight from Vietnam to Bacolod,” Leonardia added.
“Probably, we would be the first festival the President would open during his term. This will definitely boost the image, and the tourism and commercial value of MassKara Festival,” the mayor said.
Also expected during the opening rites are Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
Other national officials who have confirmed attendance on Saturday are Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, Road Board chairman Chito Clavena, and Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano, chairman of the League of Cities of the Philippines.
Leonardia said with Duterte’s presence, it is expected that security will be very tight.
He said he already discussed security preparations with Chief Superintendent Renato Gumban, director of Police Regional Office-18, and Senior Superintendent Flynn Dongbo, acting city police director.
“My proposal is that the public plaza will be used as the venue for the opening to be able to accommodate as many people as possible to see the President personally,” the mayor added.
Both public plaza and the Bacolod Government Center will be ready like what we did during the inaugurals, he said.
Leonardia said it is the people from the Office of the President or his security people that will decide on the venue.
“This is the most exciting opening we ever had,” he added. “The official time for the opening is 6 p.m., but we are willing to adjust depending on what the security people will tell us to do.”
He added: “In fact our mentality with organizers is at any time as long as the President is available and as long he is the one who will declare the MassKara open, but if it is possible, we will have it at six.”
Festival director Eli Francis Tajanlangit said that Bacolod is ready for the President and the organizers are proud to have him in the city.
Tajanlangit said that Duterte will see a run-through of what the festival is like, and of the events during the 23-day festivities.
The President will see teasers of these events, including the MassKara dancers, the Nights of Mardi Gras, costumed people, listen to drumbeaters, and see Electric MassKara floats, he added.
Tajanlangit said the opening show on October 1 is going to be a showcase of what the events from October 1 to 23 will look like, as an appreciation to the President's attention to Bacolod.
