BACOLOD CITY—The Masskara Festival, one of the Philippines’ biggest feasts, has been cancelled in a bid to prevent the spread of SARS Cov2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia on Sunday (Sept. 20) ordered the suspension of the highly-anticipated celebration and all other activities related to it in October to comply with health and safety protocols.
“Facts and scientific studies supported by empirical data have undoubtedly established that mass gatherings can be an effective channel of transmitting and spreading infections, like the COVID-19, among the population,” Leonardia said.
“Thus the EO suspending the MassKara Festival celebration and its attendant activities and revelries during the month of October 2020 is called for,” he added.
According to the mayor’s order these activities related to Masskara are cancelled:
- parades
- street dance contests
- exhibits
- road shows
- dances
- talent shows
- singing contests
- beauty contests
- costume contests
- pyrotechnic competition
- concerts
- sporting events
- cockfights
- open markets for food, plants, wares and apparel
- industrial and commercial fairs
- “any other form of interaction in open places”
Bacolod, which is currently on modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), breached the 3,000 mark on Sunday with 3,269 COVID-19 cases and 50 deaths, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.
Leonardia said the Bacolod Business Permits and Licensing Office will not issue any permit or license to operate any form of activity or event in connection with the 2020 MassKara Festival.
MassKara, which started in 1980, is coined from the words Mass meaning “many” and Kara meaning “faces.”
The festival was organized at a time of tragedy when Negros Occidental was reeling from a sugar crisis and many Negrenses died when the MV Don Juan collided with a tanker en route to Bacolod and sank in the Tablas Strait off Mindoro .
It has for 40 years brought annual cheer to the people of Bacolod and Negros Occidental and tourists from around the country and the world.
TSB