The 46th MassKara Festival burst into life on Wednesday night, October 1, as more than 50,000 people filled the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) grounds, while another 1,500 gathered at the Bacolod Public Plaza.
The city kicked off its 19-day celebration with music, arts, fireworks, history, and celebrity performances.
Silent Sanctuary and the Elias J TV Band energized the massive crowd at the BCGC, while Repakol Band brought their signature energy to the Public Plaza. While, singer-actress Ara Mina and dancer-actor Paul Salas made appearances at both venues, adding star power that thrilled festival-goers.
Bacolod Mayor Albee Benitez opened the event by asking the crowd to pause for a moment of silence in memory of those affected by the recent earthquake in Cebu. The gesture grounded the night in reflection before the city exploded into celebration.
Festival Director Rodney Mitz Ascalon called the opening a strong display of Bacolod’s unity and resilience.
Yearly remembrance
That same resilience ignited the birth of the MassKara Festival more than four decades ago.
In the early 1980s, Bacolod faced a wave of tragedy: a devastating maritime disaster and the near-collapse of the sugar industry, the province’s economic backbone.
The collapse came as a result of widespread corruption and economic mismanagement under the dictatorship of Ferdinand E. Marcos.
While the Marcoses and their cronies flaunted their so-called “golden years,” sugar workers across Negros Occidental—nearly 190,000 of them—faced famine, joblessness, and despair.
In response, local leaders and artists created a festival to lift the city’s spirits.
Visual artist Ely Santiago coined the name “MassKara”—a fusion of “mass” (people) and “cara” (face in Spanish)—as a symbol of collective strength and optimism.
The now-iconic smiling masks came to represent Bacolod’s refusal to surrender to hardship.*
Reymund Titong is a Filipino journalist steadily building his voice in the field of news reporting, driven by a commitment to tell meaningful and relevant stories.
He serves as a correspondent for Rappler, maintains a personal blog on Medium, and is the communications officer of Hope Builders Organization Negros Island.