Bacolod City – An ordinance establishing the Bacolod Music Festival was recently approved by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod in first reading.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Em Ang, chairman of the SP Committee on History, Culture and Arts, said Bacolod City has produced many home-grown talents in the music industry who gained national and international recognition.
The Bacolod City Government aims to develop the talents of Bacolodnons at the grassroots level by giving them a venue and platform to showcase their unique and ingenious music talent and skills, it said.
The ordinance to be known as the Bacolod Music Festival Ordinance will be held every last week of May.
To ensure the strict implementation of the ordinance, a special committee is created for the purpose which will be composed of the City Mayor as chairperson; chairperson of the SP Committee on History, Culture and Arts as vice chairperson; with members composed of the chairperson of the SP Committee on Tourism; City Tourism Officer; City Budget Officer, Liga ng mg Barangay president; SK Federation president; Bacolod District Schools superintendent; and a representative from the music community.
The following events will be included in the Bacolod Music Festival: amateur solo and open solo singing contests; amateur battle of the bands; song composition contest; drum-beating contest; and acoustic singing contest (original Hiligaynon song).
The mayor may also utilize a third party organizer who specializes in festival events which will coordinate with the special committee to put into effect the purpose of this ordinance.
The funding for the initial implementation of the ordinance will be in the amount of P1 million to be taken from the General Fund. Thereafter, an appropriation for the purpose will be determined on an annual basis according to the program’s prior year utilization report and other relevant indicators. (Chrysee Semillano via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)