“The New Year will bring good luck and good fortune to Bacolod, we will have a great year”, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez said as the Bacolaodiat Festival kicked off Friday, January 20.
The three-day festival is being held to usher in the Chinese New Year or the Year of the Rabbit.
Expect more developments for Bacolod City in all aspects in 2023. Benitez said.
He also said Megaworld’s Kevin Tan, the city’s honorary mayor during the Bacolaodiat Festival, will be in Bacolod on Sunday.
Tan will be returning to the country from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he said.
He was named honorary mayor for Megaworld’s significant contributions to the business landscape of Bacolod City.
The festival opened with a colorful parade from The Upper East to the Bacolod City Government Center followed by fireworks. The Chopsticks Alley and Imperial Village also opened at The Upper East.
John Stephen Sy, Bacolaodiat chairman, said the long wait is over, the festival is back after a two-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Bacolaodiat is a festival that truly gathers all sectors of the community. As one would put it, this is really a great display of the harmonious relationship and the coming together of the local Tsinoy community, city officials and the general public,” he said.*