A Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod committee is set to hold a hearing on a proposed memorandum of agreement for the designation of the Bacolod Yuhum Foundation as the over-all organizer of the 2023 MassKara Festival, Councilor Al Victor Espino said Thursday, August 3.
The SP Committee on Laws, Ordinances and Good Government chaired by Espino will conduct the hearing on Monday.
Espino said he will ask the foundation to submit a report on last year’s MassKara Festival, which the SP has not received, and to also give a perspective on what to expect in this year’s festival.
The foundation will also be required to submit a report after the staging of the 2023 MassKara Foundation, he added.
The SP should also be informed on who constitute the Bacolod Yuhum Foundation because they don’t know who they are, Espino said.
Katherine A. Matiling, Bacolod Yuhum Foundation president, in a letter dated July 10 submitted the proposed MOA, the SP was informed.
City Legal Officer Karol Joseph Chiu, in a legal opinion dated August 1 submitted to the SP, noted that the MOA in Paragraph e states that the city shall grant the foundation supervisory powers with the activities that require city permits from the Permits and Licensing Office during the duration of the Masskara Festival.
The MOA also states that the foundation has the obligation to submit liquidation and fund utilization reports, including all necessary documents, not later than 180 days after the end of the festival.
The provision on Revenues under Paragraph IV of the 2022 Memorandum of Agreement has been removed in the proposed MOA for this year’s Festival, Chiu also noted.
Chiu, in his legal opinion, said there is a need for clarification as to what is meant of supervisory powers that the City will grant to the foundation.
It is worth noting that the issuance, suspension, and revocation of permits is a manifestation of the delegated police power of the City as provided in the Local Government Code and cannot be delegated, much less to a private organization, he said.
He recommended that Paragraph e as mentioned be removed or
alternatively amended to avoid encroaching on the City’s official functions.
On the second issue on the period for the submission of liquidation and fund utilization reports, Chiu pointed out that that for public funds that the City may provide to the organizer the Commission on Audit requires that fund utilization reports should be submitted within 60 days after the completion of the project.
The previous 2022 agreement provides that the liquidation and fund utilization reports were to be submitted not later than 30 days after the end of the festival, he said.
“We recommend that the period be changed to comply with existing rules and regulations,” he added.
The removal of this provision on revenues in the proposed MOA may be disadvantageous to the city since it will be deprived of any revenue that the Festival may generate, Chiu said
It may be disadvantageous considering that the City would have expended funds for the festival aside from the fact that the Masskara Festival is a cultural property of the City, he explained.
He recommended that a revenue sharing provision that will be amenable to the parties be included in the agreement.
Matiling, in a separate letter, is also requesting for the authorization of the Bacolod Yuhum Foundation to put up kiosks and corporate booths in the various festival sites during the MassKara Festival 2023.
She named the following sites: Bacolod Public Plaza,
Bacolod City Government Center, Megaworld The Upper East, the old Bacolod City Hall, SM City Bacolod and the old airport.*