Masskara: Smiles of Change

Bacolod City – In his first “visness” to Bacolod’s Masskara Festival, Oct. 2, President Rodrigo Duterte expressed presidential admiration for an event that speaks of who Bacoleños in particular and Negrenses in general are.

Masskara, according to the President, gives this city its own identity. If his own city of Davao has “Kadayawan Festival” by which it has gained distinction, Bacolod has its own distinct festival too.

Aptly enough, the President’s accolade reminds us of what Masskara Festival stands for insofar as people here are concerned.

The festival’s name Masskara itself speaks of the rich and bubbling ingeniousness of people responsible for its birth and how they were able to conceptualize and give it a name by way of a portmanteau from “mass” (a multitude of people), and the Spanish word “kara” (face), or multitude of faces.

In a briefer about the festival, organizers said the word is also a pun on mascara or mask which also comes from the Spanish word mascara, worn by the participants and wanted by visitors. The word was coined by the late artist Ely Santiago.

But what is it in Masskara that would speak of the Negrenses’ identity?

It all began in 1980 during a period of crisis, organizers said. During that period the price of sugar from the Negrenses’ primary agricultural crop, was at an all-time low” due to the introduction of sugar substitutes.

It was also during that time, April 22, 1980 to be exact, when the inter-island vessel “M/V Don Juan” with many Negrenses on board collided with tanker Tacloban City, and sank. About 700 lives perished.

These events provided a backdrop for the launch of a festival that was conceived “to pull the residents out of the pervasive  gloomy atmosphere, as well as serving as a declaration by the people of the city that no matter how tough and bad the times were, this city is going to pull through, survive, and triumph”, a process of change for the better.

And rightly enough, Masskara has provided the driving force that carried Negrenses through the times, further raising their ingeniousness to other levels of socio-economic endeavors that brought about progress, on the back of what City Mayor Evelio Lonardia called the spirit of optimism.

The masks, true to the appellation of Bacolod as the “City of Smiles”, are adorned with smiling faces.

President Duterte formally opened the festival, which will run until Oct. 23, together with city officials and those of the province led by Gov. Alfredo Marañon, Jr., other dignitaries and guests.
And what’s “visness” by the way? It’s a portmanteau of visit and witness, first time for President Duterte to do so after assuming his post, a fact that elicited appreciative smiles among the people.(JCM/JSC/PIA6)