Virtue and pulchritude

It is once more a time of revelry in Bacolod, the City of Smiles that is the center of Sugarlandia. Today, thousands of residents and visitors will throng the streets fronting and around the San Sebastian Cathedral to witness flamboyant dancers decked out in exotic costumes.

MassKara is often likened to the Mardi Gras of Brazil or New Orleans. Full of verve, high spirits and, at times, an excess of spirits of the distilled sort, it is a celebration of life, a display of boundless optimism even in the face of hardships.

The festival, which peaks on the week Bacolod celebrates its Charter Day – with Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo as this year’s guest of honor and speaker – was borne of the local government officials’ desire to bring some cheer into the grim days of the sugar crisis. Sugar has since experienced cycles of boom and bust, though not with the extremes of the 70s and 80s, but MassKara has become an institution, drawing celebrities and tourists who are constantly amazed by the capacity for fun and the ebullient grace of Bacoleños (or Bacolodnons as others insist).

Most of my children, who have harrowing memories of the effects of the sugar crisis because of their Nanay’s pediatric work at the Regional Hospital, feel ambivalent about the MassKara. “Inday” Salvacion, a journalist, has not attended a single MassKara celebration. She is in Bacolod this weekend, but only smiles and shakes her head at invitations to join the fun. Her work often forces her to brave crowds and other chaotic situations so she prefers quiet and peace during rest periods. But while she shies away from the festivities, she is no longer hostile to the idea of MassKara.

Actually, none of my children are enthusiastic about it; the most they can muster is tolerant amusement but they all agree that happiness, no matter how ephemeral, is a basic right of all people.

Then again, MassKara is not just about revelry. It is also a celebration of the best of Bacolod and is never complete without the Banwahanon awards for the city’s achievers.

This year’s awardees are Olivia Villaflores Yanson, Roberto Montelibano, Cecilia del Castillo-Lopez, Dr. Miguel Sarabia, and Wilhelmina Gonzales.

The other awardees are Judge Gorgonio Ybañez for the Dungganon Nga Bacolodnon Award and Dr. Antonio Guanzon for the City Mayor’s Outstanding Community Service Award.

Special citations will be given to Dr. Oscar Hilado, journalist Ruperto Toga, Eduardo de Guzman, Dr. and Mrs. Edilleon Isidto and Mr. and Mrs. Eusebio Gale for the Huwarang Pamilyang Pilipino. Christina Amar and Analy Siononio will receive an award for heroism.

Awards will also be given to the city’s top 10 real estate taxpayers. The corporate category includes Coca Cola Bottlers Co., San Miguel Corp., Bacolod Commercial and Industrial Park, Robinsons Land Corp., and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. Luis Ong, Belena Ong, Stephanie Ong, Lee Eng Khong and Catherine Ong comprise the individual category.

The top five corporate taxpayers are McJola Inc. (McDonald’s), Schuumans and Van Ginneken Philippines Inc., GLP Foods Corp. (Jollibee), Coca Cola Bottlers Inc. and NEO Food Corp (Jollibee). The top individual taxpayers are Orley Ong, Araceli Regalado, Rogelio Sy, Wilson Chong and Erwin Lim. Regalado is into trucking, Lim into trading. The rest are in the food business; Chong’s Apollo Restaurant remains a family favorite where Chinese food is concerned.

Charter Day also celebrates the city government’s top employees, a tilt sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bacolod. The awards this year go to Femmy Rivera of the City Mayor’s Office, Ernie Asoy of the City Population Office, Marieta Coruña of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Tessie Banay of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and Grevin de la Tinia of the City Engineer’s Office. City health officer Dr. Edgardo Estrella was unanimously endorsed by peers as the city’s most outstanding government executive.

An interesting aside to the Banwahanon awards was the revelation by journalist Primo Esleyer, one of the judges, that local port tycoon Simplicio Palanca had demurred to sign a form needed to become an awardee.

Esleyer said Palanca passed up the award to avoid controversy as the businessman has had his share of tangling with politicians and media.

Esleyer did point out, rightly, that Palanca’s Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp., better known for taking a gamble on the city’s reclamation area at a time when no one believed it could be successful, has played a major role in the city’s development. Partly due to Palanca’s doggedness, the reclamation area allowed the entry of other shipping concerns into the city and now, we have the spanking new SM mall to draw in more business. The same area, of course, hosts the famous Manukan Country, always packed with locals and visitors hankering for a taste of our famous chicken inasal. Now, inasal is something synonymous to happiness where my children are concerned. That and batchoy, our famous hearty broth, the first thing they look for upon arrival and they swear that 21 Bar on Lacson street serves the best local version.

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Virtue, not to mention beauty, was what got the judges’ nods for Rosario Anne Sales, the new MassKara Queen. The 20-year-old nursing student of the University of St. La Salle cited the San Sebastian Cathedral as her favorite Bacolod icon. She called it an icon of faith, a place of worship that breaks down the barriers between rich and poor. Kristine Alonso was first runner-up, while Nicole Marie Dimailig was second runner-up.

The judges of this year’s pageant were filmmaker Peque Gallaga, regional tourism director Edwin Trompeta, interior designer Raymund Fuentes, dancer Georgette Sanchez, and beauty queen Carmela Arcolas-Gamboa.