• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
An ordinance declaring the MassKara Festival and MassKara Dance as cultural property of Bacolod City, was approved by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod on first reading Wednesday.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Em Legaspi-Ang, said Section 14 of Republic Act 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, established the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property with a mandate to register all important cultural heritage properties of the country.
Pursuant to this constitutional mandate, the Local Government Code, particularly Section 16, mandates that local government units ensure and support the preservation and enrichment of culture and preserve the comfort and convenience of their inhabitants, it said.
The ordinance said the Bacolod City Government has been invited in many different countries too many times especially when there is an International Masks Arts and Cultural Organization (IMACO) conference to feature the famous Mask Dance of the world-renowned MassKara Festival.
The MassKara Festival and the MassKara Dance will be on their 43rd anniversary this year and it is just timely to declare the same as an important cultural property of Bacolod City, it said.
The ordinance will be known as the MassKara Cultural Property Rights Ordinance, it added.
The ordinance said the Bacolod City Tourism Office will register MassKara Festival and MassKara Dance to the Philippine Registry of Cultural Property under the National Commission for Culture and Arts as a local important cultural property.
The BCTO may request any agency or office in the City Government of Bacolod to assist them in the full implementation of the previous paragraph and is also required to report any status update of the aforesaid registration to the Sangguniang Panlungsod every three months, or if there is an important update whichever comes first, it added.*
