Bacolod cops say seized drugs meant for MassKara

ALL SET The stage in front of the Bacolod City Hall building is ready for the opening on Friday night of MassKara Festival, the city’s world-famous festivity now on its 45th year. —LEVI TRIO

BACOLOD CITY—This Negros Occidental capital, the country’s “City of Smiles,” is in the thick of preparations for the culmination of the MassKara Festival but authorities are on the lookout for people wanting to give merrymakers a different “high.”

On Thursday, police seized a kilogram of “shabu” (crystal meth), worth P6.8 million, from Darel Demafiles, 33, in a drug bust at Purok Masinadyahon in Barangay 12 here.

Police Lt. Col. Antonio Benitez Jr., head of the local police’s City Drug Enforcement Unit, said shabu recovered from Demafiles was intended to be sold during the MassKara Festival, which will culminate on Oct. 27, because this was an unusually large amount.

Citing intelligence reports, Benitez said Demafiles would usually receive small volumes, ranging from 100 to 200 grams, of shabu from his suppliers.

“He would not have a market for that large amount of drugs during normal times, but there is usually a large market during festivals,” Benitez said.

From Oct. 12 to Oct. 14, police also arrested six other persons and seized P9.2 million worth of illegal drugs in separate operations in Bacolod.

Police Col. Joeresty Coronica, Bacolod police director, said the increase in the amount of drugs seized in Bacolod during the two-week festivities leading to the MassKara Festival was “expected and anticipated.”

“A large market for drugs is always expected in any festival in the country. That is why we beefed up our intelligence monitoring ahead of the festival in anticipation of an influx of supply,” Coronica said.

Street parties

“It is expected annually that every time Bacolod celebrates MassKara, the market of drugs increases, just as in other festivals,” he added.

Coronica said the bigger volume of recent drug seizures were results of intelligence information that large shipments were arriving for the festivities. He said the supply came mostly from Metro Manila and entered the city through sea vessels.

“For drug users, the festival is happier if they use drugs. Out-of-towners … looking for adventure also resort to drugs for fun,” he said.

The Masskara Festival began on Oct. 11 and will end on Oct. 27 with the Street Dance and Arena Competition at Paglaum Grandstand.

Seven groups are joining in the competition, where they would dance through the city’s main streets before heading to the stadium for their final arena competition.

Street parties are held in different sites during the MassKara with partygoers up until the wee hours.

The name “MassKara,” which means a multitude of faces, was coined by the late artist Ely Santiago, from the word “mass,” which means a multitude of people, and the Spanish word “cara,” or face.

The “festival of smiles” started in the 1980s when Negros Occidental, including its capital Bacolod, was reeling from a sugar crisis and the tragedy brought by the sinking of MV Don Juan where many Negrenses died. It was created to lift Negrenses’ spirits and bring back their smiles.

Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has ordered the closure of the city’s Circumferential Road between St. Francis Avenue and Upper East Avenue from 7 p.m. to midnight on Oct. 18 and Oct. 20 in anticipation of large crowds attending festival-related concerts at the Bacolod City Government Center grounds.

According to Benitez, a gun ban has been imposed in the city until Oct. 27 and the flying of drones over festival sites will need permits from the city government as part of measures to ensure the safety and security of revelers.

The mayor said the selling and drinking of liquor at festival sites would be allowed only until 3 a.m.

The following, Benitez said, are also prohibited at festival sites: pointed barbecue sticks and other bladed weapons, backpacks, bottled soda and alcoholic drinks, making pranks or jokes that can cause mass panic or stampedes, lighting of firecrackers and littering.