BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines — All hotels, inns and lodging houses in Bacolod City have been fully booked since the first week of October for the city’s famed Masskara festival which will peak this weekend.

Meanwhile, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia clarified that the usual Bacolod Charter Day parade which usually takes place on October 19 and which has, in past years, been made part of the Masskara festival, will no longer take place on that day.

Leonardia said, “We are not recognizing October 19 as the city’s charter day, because in the Archives of the Congress of the Philippines, the law establishing Bacolod’s charter day was signed June 18, 1938, and states that it shall take effective immediately. Since the date of signing was June 18, 1938, the celebration must be June 18 also, so the charter day parade will be set on the official date of the celebration. The only thing is, in previous years, Bacolod’s charter day celebration had been linked to the Masskara festival in the previous years, and we are now correcting this.”

At the same time, he said the Banwahanon awards given to outstanding natives of Bacolod City as well as the search for outstanding employees of the city government by the Rotary Club of Bacolod, will also be made part of the Charter Day celebration on June 18, 2012.

The Bacolod City mayor has expressed his gratitude to the management of Philippine Airlines (PAL) for adding flights to Bacolod City flying in the droves of tourists and visitors wanting to witness one of Western Visayas’ most famous festivals which visitors say is akin to the carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

Highlighting the festival this weekend is the street dance competition in various categories, which will be a showdown of various groups garbed in attractive costumes.