BY MILLIE KILAYKO
Millie Kilayko (left) with Vice President Leni Robredo during the distribution of housing materials for residents of Sipalay City, Negros Occidental who lost their homes to Typhoon Odette.*Aeson and April Baldevia photos 
Mikiboy Pama (left) and Megumi Miura are cutting out stars for the installation art by Negrense artists that will be displayed at the People’s Rally in Paglaum Stadium this Friday. 
Tristram Miravalles is among the Negrense artists who will take part in the Star of Hope installation art that will be displayed during the Leni-Kiko grand rally in Bacolod this Friday.*
The celebration of People Power in Negros Occidental after years of darkness brought about by plunder of its sugar monocrop industry by the perpetrators of Martial Law went beyond just dancing in the streets.
It celebrated with 200,000 Stars of Hope: handcrafted parols in a massive livelihood project that gave a fresh wave of hope to 18 producing villages and thousands of workers.
The provision of livelihood was a relief to the province which reeled in poverty and insurgency because the Marcos regime established a single buying agency for sugar which controlled prices and favored cronies at the expense of the ordinary citizens – the farm owners who were not close to the powers, the thousands of sugar farm workers whose incomes were compromised, and the whole province with 85 percent of its population directly and indirectly dependent on sugar.
It was during this time that 66 percent of the province’s children were in either of the three stages of malnutrition.
When former Negros Occidental governor Rafael Coscolluela, the Leni-Kiko Campaign Manager and chair of the Negros Occidental Robredo People’s Council appointed Laban Leni Negros Occ (LLNO) as the event organizer of Friday’s People’s Rally, revolving its theme around the Star of Hope came naturally.
It has been referring to Leni Robredo as today’s STAR of HOPE since it initiated a stationary caravan in November and launched a Christmas Drive to serve marginalized communities (and later families affected by Typhoon Odette) with rice packs from contributions raised by the community of donors of volunteers who purchased paper Stars of Hope to hang on a tree in exchange of two kilos of rice for the cause.
Her volunteers who see light coming from the values and vision of Leni Robredo, will welcome her as their Star of Hope with a celebration of Bacolod’s trademark MassKara festival, which had been cancelled twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The MassKara festival, known for its smiling masks, likewise traces its origins to Negros Occidental’s time of darkness, when people needed to pep up their sullen spirit by wearing smiling masks while their hearts were crying inside.
History is repeating itself. The 1986 Star of Hope Project was powered by volunteers who celebrated the return of democracy after the Dark Ages of Martial Law giving time, talent and treasure to a massive livelihood project that restored people’s hopes.
Today, in a much bigger way and in synch with the Pink movement, we celebrate the emerging of a new Star of Hope in Leni Robredo.
This People’s Rally in Negros Occidental will not just be our welcome to her and her team. It will be a celebration of our commitment to make sure that her star gets to shine over the Filipino people in the next six years.*