Weekend Warrior: Masskara 2007

As a greenhorn photography hobbyist, I took advantage of the cheap flights being offered by Air Philippines to Bacolod to go and see the city's Masskara Festival. So I filed a 5-day leave, booked my flights and 'hotel', and stepped on Bacolod soil-and-cement for the first time last Thursday.

First impression sight-wise: Bacolod isn't that much different from the Southern Cebu area. Lots of open spaces, wide streets and pleasant people. The weather's a bit sombre with grey clouds looming above the whole city. From the airport, I and Geland (who joined me on this trip) made our way to the pension house we're booked at.

SALTIMBOCA Pension House at 15th and Lacson Streets is a great deal. For 600/php a night, we got a clean airconditioned room with two beds. And the pension house is one of the few with it's own jacuzzi and 'lounging' pool ('lounging' -- no good for laps). No TV too. That's okay since this is a budget trip. Toilet and shower facilities are shared with the other 4 rooms in the unit. The staff are very friendly and accommodating.

As we arrived on a Thursday, there wasn't much to do yet so we visited St. John's Cathedral near the central market plaza. At Lacson Street, flag a jeepney with a sign saying it's bound for "Bata". Fare is at 7 pesos.

St. John's Cathedral is one of the major landmarks of Bacolod City, along with the Central Market Plaza and the newly constructed SM Bacolod (at the reclamation area). Outside the church, vendors selling Masskara souvenirs are all around. The decorative masks cost from 30 pesos to 250 pesos each, depending on the size and the design intricacy.

Inside the cathedral is a very familiar image of a man giving instruction and guidance to a couple of children. You'll find a larger version of it along Taft Avenue in Manila. It's an image of St. John Baptist de la Salle.

That day was also the day of the school dance competition for the 2007 Masskara festival, but unfortunately I wasn't able to catch it.

The following day was Friday, with two event highlights. First is the city parade in commemoration of the city's Charter Day. Second is the first "Elektrik Masskara" event organized by the festival committee.

The city parade was done in the early afternoon along Lacson Street. Schoolchildren clad in band uniforms, high school cadets marching, a convoy of vehicles giving away freebies from various sponsors, big bikers, vintage vehicles, and of course movie stars (dunno the names, but I overheard from the onlookers that it was Zardo and Lastikman). No Philippine festival parade would be complete without the presence of at least one TV or movie personality.



Later at night, select dance troupes of Bacolod paraded and danced for the Elektrik Masskara event. Dancing to various R&B, hiphop and folk music, the performers literally wowed the crowd and photographers with their dance choreography and colorful costumes. Some used light sticks for props and most were wearing masks creatively lighted with LEDs.

Saturday was a hectic day. Got to meet up with Buddy and Tin (toting their babies -- a brand new Nikon DSLR and their old reliable Fuji Finepix). Geland decided that we go visit the nearby town of Silay for a view of the old houses in the area.

The town of Silay is a 10-peso jeepney ride away from Bacolod City. It's about a 35 minute trip, passing through several sugarcane fields. The key attraction of Silay is the Bahay Negrense, the ancestral house of the Gaston family. The Gaston's are of German descent whose forefather was the pioneering sugarcane miller in the province. Local folklore say that the Gaston family has been the subject of several witchhunts and ostracism in the old times because the natives believed that they were bampiras. The portrait of the Gaston patriarch seems to serve as proof of this tale because he does look like Bram Stoker's Dracula.




We returned to Bacolod City after lunch so I can catch the Masskara baranggay competition at the Central Market Plaza. There were more than 20 entries, each of which performed the year's Masskara medley. It was difficult to obtain a good view of the dance competition, so I settled with mingling with the baranggay dancers at their waiting areas. It was a motley of costumes, masks, children and tourists! The colors that you see and capture there makes you want to snap pictures away endlessly.

At night, it was the street party along Lacson Street, Bacolod City's main avenue slash business district. Four large stages are set-up at various landmarks along the street, with each stage featuring its own performer. At this point, Sam and her very pretty sister Stef met up with me and they gave me a bar tour of Bacolod. Bacolod City's "place-to-be-seen" is Sorrento, their version of probably Eastwood. With five upscale bars and a coffee shop, the rich, pretty, good-looking and VIPs seem to congregate at this place. The three of us lounged a little, drank a bit, talked anything about Bacolod and looked at the people.


Sunday was our last day. Geland and I took an Oceanjet ferry to Iloilo. Flights going to Manila are 2000+ pesos cheaper if you take it from Iloilo, hence the side trip.

We only had enough time to make one stop at Iloilo City --- to hear mass at the city's JARO Cathedral, one of their more prominent landmarks.

This is getting to be a long post, and I haven't talked about the food yet!

It's hard to say that the trip was relaxing. I've been going from one place to another like on some sort of race, with no real time to relax. But the sights and the pictures I got were worth the hardship.

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Bacolod tidbits:

1. Elementary schoolchildren do not need to pay jeepney fare. They get to ride for free.
2. The proper way to eat chicken inasal and rice is sans spoon-and-fork. Eat with your hands as the locals do.
3. The reclamation area is now where SM Bacolod stands.
4. Bacolod's elite dresses up to the part. When they go malling, they're dressed as if they're going to a fashion party. That's how they advertise their social status. (This explains why most of my Bacolod-friends do dress fashionably...)
5. All the ladies I've talked to in Bacolod were always smiling. City of Smiles indeed.