BACOLOD CITY: This city’s MassKara Festival, one of the Philippines’ most colorful festivities, goes worldwide with the scheduled appearances of its street dance performers in various festivals abroad in 2024. Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said on Monday the dancers from Barangay Granada, the reigning street dance champion, and Barangay Sum-ag, one of the runners-up, have invitations to perform in Hong Kong and Taiwan, respectively, in February. Both countries celebrate lantern festivals and other grand festivities during that month. ‘Other countries also communicate with us. They would like to bring the MassKara dancers there. Slowly, we are now becoming worldwide,’ Benitez said. He said there is also an invitation for the MassKara dancers to perform for the Filipino community in Italy during the Independence Day celebration in June next year. Last June, the MassKara Festival dancers from Barangay Granada performed for the first time in New York during the 125th Philippine Independence Anniversary Comm
emoration Parade on Madison Avenue. The event was organized by the Philippine Independence Day Council Inc. together with the Philippine Consulate General in New York. Also in June this year, the dancers from Barangay Sum-ag performed in the 2023 Busan International Dance Festival in Busan Metropolitan City, South Korea. After the MassKara Festival in October, Benitez said he has been receiving inquiries from several foreign embassies asking to be part of the MassKara Festival and invitations for MassKara dancers to participate in cultural events abroad. ‘Aside from the usual events in California and New York in the United States and in Korea, now we have from those in Milan (Italy), Canada and other parts of the world requesting to see our pride that is MassKara Festival,’ he said.

Benitez said a television network has also informed him of its plan to broadcast the festival to other countries next year.

Source: Philippines News Agency

BACOLOD CITY: The Regional Development Council (RDC) 6 (Western Visayas) is set to submit to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) next month a funding request for 10 priority projects, its chairman, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, said here Monday. ‘We made a selection. These are mostly on social services and infrastructure,’ Benitez said. These projects are the Aklan cruise port hub; the modernization of Guimaras’ parola ports; the heart, lung and kidney center; shared service facilities for solid waste management; farm schools; smart agriculture system; regional warehouses for disaster response and management; the Panay River Basin Integrated Development Project; the Iloilo-Capiz-Aklan Expressway; and the Bacolod Coastal Road, Iloilo Circumferential Roads, and other vital/strategic road networks. The priority projects were identified during the RDC-6’s first full council meeting held in Macau, China last week. Benitez was joined by heads of the regional line agencies, representatives of the pri
vate sector, and several local chief executives in the meeting and learning visit in China’s special administrative region from Dec. 5 to 8. ‘We understand the DBM and the National Economic and Development Authority are asking RDCs now to prioritize 10 projects that will be automatically funded by the DBM. We will submit it next month since there’s already the budget call for 2025,’ he said. Benitez underscored the need for the RDC-6 to be ‘more relevant to nation-building’ with a shared responsibility and a vision for a ‘more inclusive and proactive Western Visayas.’

‘It is not just in policy-making but also in investment programming, project implementation, and monitoring and evaluation,’ he said.

Source: Philippines News Agency

BACOLOD CITY: The Regional Development Council (RDC) 6 (Western Visayas) is set to submit to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) next month a funding request for 10 priority projects, its chairman, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, said here Monday. ‘We made a selection. These are mostly on social services and infrastructure,’ Benitez said. These projects are the Aklan cruise port hub; the modernization of Guimaras’ parola ports; the heart, lung and kidney center; shared service facilities for solid waste management; farm schools; smart agriculture system; regional warehouses for disaster response and management; the Panay River Basin Integrated Development Project; the Iloilo-Capiz-Aklan Expressway; and the Bacolod Coastal Road, Iloilo Circumferential Roads, and other vital/strategic road networks. The priority projects were identified during the RDC-6’s first full council meeting held in Macau, China last week. Benitez was joined by heads of the regional line agencies, representatives of the pri
vate sector, and several local chief executives in the meeting and learning visit in China’s special administrative region from Dec. 5 to 8. ‘We understand the DBM and the National Economic and Development Authority are asking RDCs now to prioritize 10 projects that will be automatically funded by the DBM. We will submit it next month since there’s already the budget call for 2025,’ he said. Benitez underscored the need for the RDC-6 to be ‘more relevant to nation-building’ with a shared responsibility and a vision for a ‘more inclusive and proactive Western Visayas.’

‘It is not just in policy-making but also in investment programming, project implementation, and monitoring and evaluation,’ he said.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is scheduled to leave this week to attend the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Japan Commemorative Summit. Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu in a Palace briefing on Monday said the President is leaving on Dec. 15. “Now, this is very important because Japan is one of the first dialogue partners of ASEAN, and it’s one of the most dynamic. And its participation in ASEAN has covered not only political security matters such as defense and transnational crime and mutual legal assistance, but also mutual economic activities which all help in community building in ASEAN; and also cultural and people-to-people activities,” Espiritu said. He said the President may have a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Details however are still being firmed up. On Dec. 16, President Marcos will attend the dinner hosted by Kishida at the State Guest House or the Akasaka Palace. Espirit
u said the summit, which will be held on Dec. 17, includes a session on the reviewing of ASEAN-Japan relations and international and regional developments including issues in the West Philippine Sea. “So here, not only will they review the cooperation activities of ASEAN through the years, but also they will discuss South China Sea, East China Sea, Myanmar, North Korea and other international developments that have a bearing on ASEAN,” he said. The summit will also have a session which focuses on student and youth exchange, art and cultural cooperation, and sports cooperation, ASEAN-Japan Economic Partnership, trade and investment, supply chain, connectivity and infrastructure, climate change, and food and energy security. Espiritu said leaders will be attending a pre-gala commemorative lighting ceremony at Azabudai Hills and will proceed to Okura Hotel for the gala dinner. During his visit to Japan, President Marcos will also attend an event organized by the Asia Zero Emission Community, a separate regio
nal organization composed of ASEAN, Japan, and Australia. Espiritu said on the sidelines of the summit, there will also be business meetings and bilateral business meetings which will be led by the Department of Trade and Industry.
Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is scheduled to leave this week to attend the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Japan Commemorative Summit. Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu in a Palace briefing on Monday said the President is leaving on Dec. 15. “Now, this is very important because Japan is one of the first dialogue partners of ASEAN, and it’s one of the most dynamic. And its participation in ASEAN has covered not only political security matters such as defense and transnational crime and mutual legal assistance, but also mutual economic activities which all help in community building in ASEAN; and also cultural and people-to-people activities,” Espiritu said. He said the President may have a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Details however are still being firmed up. On Dec. 16, President Marcos will attend the dinner hosted by Kishida at the State Guest House or the Akasaka Palace. Espirit
u said the summit, which will be held on Dec. 17, includes a session on the reviewing of ASEAN-Japan relations and international and regional developments including issues in the West Philippine Sea. “So here, not only will they review the cooperation activities of ASEAN through the years, but also they will discuss South China Sea, East China Sea, Myanmar, North Korea and other international developments that have a bearing on ASEAN,” he said. The summit will also have a session which focuses on student and youth exchange, art and cultural cooperation, and sports cooperation, ASEAN-Japan Economic Partnership, trade and investment, supply chain, connectivity and infrastructure, climate change, and food and energy security. Espiritu said leaders will be attending a pre-gala commemorative lighting ceremony at Azabudai Hills and will proceed to Okura Hotel for the gala dinner. During his visit to Japan, President Marcos will also attend an event organized by the Asia Zero Emission Community, a separate regio
nal organization composed of ASEAN, Japan, and Australia. Espiritu said on the sidelines of the summit, there will also be business meetings and bilateral business meetings which will be led by the Department of Trade and Industry.
Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is scheduled to leave this week to attend the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Japan Commemorative Summit. Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu in a Palace briefing on Monday said the President is leaving on Dec. 15. “Now, this is very important because Japan is one of the first dialogue partners of ASEAN, and it’s one of the most dynamic. And its participation in ASEAN has covered not only political security matters such as defense and transnational crime and mutual legal assistance, but also mutual economic activities which all help in community building in ASEAN; and also cultural and people-to-people activities,” Espiritu said. He said the President may have a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Details however are still being firmed up. On Dec. 16, President Marcos will attend the dinner hosted by Kishida at the State Guest House or the Akasaka Palace. Espirit
u said the summit, which will be held on Dec. 17, includes a session on the reviewing of ASEAN-Japan relations and international and regional developments including issues in the West Philippine Sea. “So here, not only will they review the cooperation activities of ASEAN through the years, but also they will discuss South China Sea, East China Sea, Myanmar, North Korea and other international developments that have a bearing on ASEAN,” he said. The summit will also have a session which focuses on student and youth exchange, art and cultural cooperation, and sports cooperation, ASEAN-Japan Economic Partnership, trade and investment, supply chain, connectivity and infrastructure, climate change, and food and energy security. Espiritu said leaders will be attending a pre-gala commemorative lighting ceremony at Azabudai Hills and will proceed to Okura Hotel for the gala dinner. During his visit to Japan, President Marcos will also attend an event organized by the Asia Zero Emission Community, a separate regio
nal organization composed of ASEAN, Japan, and Australia. Espiritu said on the sidelines of the summit, there will also be business meetings and bilateral business meetings which will be led by the Department of Trade and Industry.
Source: Philippines News Agency