Speech

Remarks by President Ferdinand R. Marcos at the welcome luncheon in Talisay City

Event Welcome luncheon in Talisay City
Location Hacienda Bubog, Talisay City, Negros Occidental

Ikaw naman, Mayor, binigla mo ako kumakain ako ng lanzones kaagad. Nakita ko…

But yeah this is terrific. This is exactly what we have been trying to promote, that to bring us out already of the pandemic. This kind of event is so, so important dahil nakita naman natin ang reaksyon ng tao, dahil nabigyan sila ng pagkakataon na lumabas na makapag-celebrate at lalong-lalo na palapit na tayo sa Pasko.

So it is a good thing to remind people that the pandemic may have been difficult, the pandemic really put us through the wringer but we are back. The pandemic is fading away. We are learning to manage it. And now it is time for us to all go back to work, to all go back to our normal lives, to remind ourselves of all the opportunities that were before us, before the pandemic that we now after — that we have normalized the situation a little bit — then it is time for us to go back to all of those endeavors that we were undertaking before, before the COVID hit.

But this is a perfect manifestation of the change in our mindset here in the Philippines. It is what we have been trying to promote and that is why we have tried very hard to remind people that it is time again as I said to bring us back to where we were before and even to go further and to know that we have — although things are difficult. There is no denying that. Nonetheless, it is time for us to go back and exercise once again, show once again the Filipino resilience, the Filipino resourcefulness, the Filipino industry, the Filipino talent.

Ipakita na naman natin sa buong mundo dahil nagbubukas ang mundo, nagbubukas ang Pilipinas. Ito ngayon ang MassKara Festival ay isang pagdiriwang hindi lamang sa pagbubukas ng Bacolod kung hindi sa buong Pilipinas.

The MassKara Festival was born of a very sad period in the history of Bacolod. The MassKara Festival was born in the ‘80s when the sugar prices, the world sugar prices crashed and with the attendant effect to the businessmen, the businesses, and the income to all of those here in the sugar-producing lands.

So in Bacolod, it was decided to put up a — as an alternative source of income is to make mask para ibigay sa mga turista.

Now if you remember, around that time, there was a very tragic event where lumubog ‘yung barko papalapit sa Pasko. Yes… And so I think the then mayor said, “sige gawin na nating festival para makangiti na naman ang tao.”

And that is why I think the MassKara Festival has taken on such a life of its own because once again it is the symbol of our reemergence from a crisis, our reemergence from a very, very difficult time.

And that what — the MassKara Festival was created for and it has served its purpose doubly well in 2022 as we watched Bacolod. We watched the whole of western Visayas. We watched the rest of the Philippines reemerged once again into the sun and that is what we celebrate today. And that is what we see that people are feeling and that is the feeling that we want to continue to encourage, within our people because that is what’s going to lead us to success.

So congratulations, Mayor. Congratulations sa lahat ng kasama sa pag-organize ng MassKara Festival at nakakatiyak ako na ito ay magiging simbolo sa ating — isa ating magiging simbolo sa pagbalik ng Pilipinas sa pagpaganda ulit ng ating mga kabuhayan.

Thank you very much and magandang tanghali sa inyo. [applause]

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