ORGANIZERS of MassKara Festival has requested the Bacolod City Council to declare a gun ban in the city during the festivity from September 25 to October 20. Kasadya Bacolod Development Foundation Inc. (KBDFI) president and festival director Rhoderick Samonte said a series of pre-Masskara events have been lined up from August 24 to September 30 before the opening salvo on October 1. The festivity will end on Oct. 19 during Bacolod’s Charter Day celebration. Councilor El Cid Familiaran, chairman of the committee on police, security and jail management, said he proposed a resolution based on the request of Samonte. He said that he is requesting Director General Ricardo Marquez, chief of the Philippine National Police, through Chief Superintendent Bernardo Diaz, director of Police Regional Office 6, to declare a gun ban for Bacolod only during the said dates. The resolution is subject to the approval of the City Council during its regular session on Wednesday. Familiaran stated in the resolution that it is “primordial for this celebration to provide safety for the public who will be the merry-goers” and “preserve peace and order for the city” during the cited period. To ensure peace and order during the festival, the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) is also requesting an augmentation of 300 personnel from Police Regional Office-6. The additional personnel will be deployed to different areas of Bacolod during the festivity. The request of BCPO is still pending since police personnel in Western Visayas will still be needed for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meetings in Iloilo City starting this week. More than 200 BCPO personnel were deployed to Iloilo on Tuesday. To strengthen the BCPO force for the MassKara, Superintendent Noel Polines, chief of Operations Branch, will ask Diaz for the early release of the BCPO personnel from their Iloilo assignment. During the MassKara Festival, personnel of Police Station 2 will be allowed to use the lot near the Andres Bonifacio Elementary School as command post as approved by Mayor Monico Puentevella. At present, the Police Station 2 headquarters is situated inside the BCPO compound. The BCPO is still scouting for its permanent location in the vicinity of Police Station 2’s previous area on Lacson Street, which is among the main festival sites of MassKara. by : Carla N. Canet
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