President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday morning declared Bacolod’s 29th MassKara Festival open at the Bacolod public plaza amid a shower of confetti and balloons filling the sky with a kaleidoscope of colors.

She also did a bit of dancing to the beat of the MassKara music with a festival dancer.

“The masks at the MassKara festival are faces of hope and smiles, and they will hopefully reflect the real faces of the people of Bacolod,” she said, as she wished the city a happy festival.

Arroyo and party were welcomed at the plaza where a crowd of about 5,000 gathered, and the MassKara dancers and school children waving flaglets.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said “This is the first time in 29 years that no less than the President herself has given us the honor by coming to Bacolod to officially opens the MassKara Festival.”

Leonardia also said that the President has approved the city’s request to declare October 20 a holiday in the city. It’s Charter Day, Oct. 19, had always been declared a holiday, but this year it will fall on a Sunday.

He said MassKara is not only a show of costumes and colors of the festival. More importantly, it is the essence of cooperation and unity of the people in Bacolod, he added.

MassKara cannot be successful without the people, Leonardia said. It is the people’s festival and it is the people of Bacolod who made the MassKara festival a major tourism attraction in the country, he said.

Leonardia said MassKara has gone places, like to Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Japan and that during the weekend the MassKara dancers from Barangay Alijis, last year’s winner in the street dancing competition, also performed in Korea.

The mayor attended the 12th Andong International Mask Dance Festival in Korea last month upon the invitation of Andong City Mayor Kim Hwi-Dong who wrote him early this year that they would like to introduce the MassKara Festival to their city.

Leonardia also forged a tripartite sister-city relationship with Singaraja City, Indonesia and Andong City, South Korea Monday during his trip to Andong.

“Bacolod has recently been invited by the International Mask Arts and Culture Inc., which has a membership of 16 countries. This tells us that MassKara has already been recognized worldwide,” Leonardia said.

The MassKara Festival represented the country in some major festivals in Asia, notably, the Chinggay festival in Singapore in 1998, the Lunar Festival of Hong Kong in 2001, the International Tourism Festival of Shanghai in 2004, and in the Midosuji Festival Parade of Osaka, Japan, where it emerge as champion in the foreign category – the first award to be given to a foreign participant in the 10-year history of that Japanese festival.

City officials of Bacolod came in full force during the opening of the festival yesterday which was also witnessed by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco, 3rd District Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson, Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, Talisay Mayor Eric Saratan, Land Transportation Office-National Capital Region head Ricardo Tan and Msgr. Victorino Rivas, who led the invocation.

BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO *CGS