MassKara 2025 organizer invites Bacolodnons to be festival co-creators

Mayor Greg Gasataya has tapped the Bacolod Gugma Foundation, Inc. as the organizer of the MassKara Festival, the city’s world-renowned festival held in October each year.

Gugma is the Hiligaynon word for love.

Now in its 46th year, the MassKara Festival will start on Oct. 1, with highlights set on the third Sunday, or Oct. 19.

“As preparations ramp up, the foundation invites Bacolodnons to take part – not just as spectators, but as co-creators of a festival that reflects the true heartbeat of the City of Smiles,” Rodney Mitz Ascalon, foundation president and festival director, said in a statement on Friday.

Ascalon said the vision for the festivity, anchored on “love in action” expressed through service, unity, and cultural pride, aligns with Gasataya’s commitment to bring the MassKara back to the people.

“With ‘unity through love’ as its core, MassKara 2025 is shaping up to be a homegrown celebration powered by grassroots collaboration,” he added.

Joining Ascalon in the core team are lawyer Hannah Lea Tañoso De la Torre, corporate secretary and legal affairs head; Joanna Angelica Ortillo, foundation treasurer; Edsel Prado, in charge of accounting and finance; and Christine Panes-Ceraspe, in charge of administration and secretariat operations.

Gasataya earlier said the final venue of the major events is still being finalized, adding that the festival schedule would be streamlined “to avoid an overly extended celebration.”

“The goal is to create a meaningful and festive experience from Day 1. We envision a MassKara that will have greater participation from our people, especially the Bacolodnons who come home during this celebration,” he added.

After a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the MassKara returned in 2022 with the Bacolod Yuhum Foundation, Inc. as the festival organizer until 2024.

One of the most colorful festivals in the country, the MassKara showcases dancers donning carnival-inspired costumes and masks while performing on the streets and inside an arena on the final day of the festivity.

MassKara, coined from the words “mass” (people) and “cara” (face), was born after a series of tragedies faced by the Negrenses and Bacolodnons in the early 1980s, particularly the sugar industry crisis and the sinking of Negros Navigation’s MV Don Juan.* (Nanette Guadalquiver/PNA)