The Bacolod police is stepping up security for this year’s MassKara Festival in October.
There will be 1,828 policemen who will be fielded to secure the festival, PLt. Col. Romeo Vargas, Bacolod City Police Office Operations Officer, said at a MassKara Festival press conference on Thursday, Sept. 19.
The festival will have four sites – the Bacolod City Government Center, Bacolod Public Plaza, Lacson Tourism Strip, and Megaworld’s The Upper East.
The police have also recommended a citywide gun ban from October 11 to 28, he said.
Secretary to the Mayor Karol Joseph Chiu said Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez has already sent a request for the gun ban to the Philippine National Police Region 6 office.
Vargas said the police are also recommending cellular phone signal jams during the highlights of the MassKara from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on October 26 and from noon to 9 p.m. on October 27 at the festival sites.
The necessity of the signal jams will be reviewed, Chiu said, amid complaints last year that the signal jams covered areas beyond the festival sites.
The move of the festival organizers to change the name of the Miss Bacolod MassKara pageant to Miss Bacolod was questioned during the press conference for lack of respect for its historical significance.
The Yuhum Foundation organizers later sent a message to the media that Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez had already approved the change of name from Miss Bacolod back to Miss Bacolod MassKara on the recommendation of Kuster Cadagat, Yuhum Foundation secretary and festival director for cultural and accredited events.*