BACOLOD CITY –– The BacoLaodiat Festival was canceled to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The BacoLaodiat is an annual Chinese New Year celebration in the city. It was coined from the words “Bacolod” and “Lao Diat,” a Fookien word for celebration.
City Mayor Evelio Leonardia has issued an executive order suspending the celebration, which is held to usher in the Chinese New Year that falls on Friday, Feb. 12.
Leonardia said facts and scientific studies supported by empirical data have undoubtedly established that mass gatherings could be an effective channel for transmitting and spreading infections, like the COVID-19, among the population.
BacoLaodiat Festival chair Oddette Ong-Gomez, in a statement on Wednesday, said the festival board members and organizers deemed it proper to forego the holding of the festival this Lunar year.
However, she pointed out that even without the fireworks displays and the spectacle of dragon and lion dances, “the spirit of the BacoLaodiat Festival is still very much alive with the modest yet, meaningful display of lotuses and highlighted by the Zodiac Animal Ox as centerpiece currently on display at the Bacolod City Government Center grounds.”
“Like the lotuses which grow in muddy water and can rise above the mud and bloom with remarkable beauty, we are one with Bacolodnons in praying we will all rise from the adversities brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. And may the lanterns represent the light at the end of the tunnel that we all aspire for to reach and come out victorious in this global fight,” she said.