Masskara Festival: From Grief to Escapism

The Masskara Festival through the years gives the people of Negros, as well as local and foreign visitors, a chance to drink and be merry for 20 days. Originally designed to depict the hardships of the people of Negros, the Masskara Festival has become a conduit of escapism and a way to generate revenues for big business. It has indeed come a long way, and it is clear that the path veers away from the progressive intent.

By KARL G. OMBION
Bulatlat

Masskara literally means many faces. It was coined by Ely Santiago, a painter, cartoonist, and cultural artist, who devoted depicting in his art works the many faces of Negrenses beset with various crises.

Originally – and ironically - the masks reflected the people’s grief over the loss of their numerous loved ones when, in 1979, Negros Navigation’s luxury liner MS Don Juan collided with a tanker. Five years before, there was a big drop in sugar production. The people of Negros suffered from the glut of sugar in the world market caused by the Caribbean sugar crisis and the introduction of sugar substitute like the High Fructose Corn Syrup in the United States. All these led to the holding of the first Masskara Festival in 1980.

Santiago’s original proposal to hold annual parade using masks to capture the crisis in Negros, was converted by the local elite into street dancing and merry-making festival. This rich imagery of masks was used by the hacenderos and local politicians to hide the anguish of the Negrenses.

From then on, Masskara Festival became one of the popular attractions in Negros, drawing thousands of people within and outside the country.

During this festival every October, the city’s public plaza is brought alive into a huge beer garden. There are also Masskara street-dancing contests highlighting the entire festival.

Escapist and obscurantist culture

Critics of Masskara Festival however note its more disturbing side.

The late Joel Arbolario, considered an icon of progressive cultural movement in the Visayas, once said the Masskara Festival is “a cultural justification to the ‘drink-dance-be-merry-for-tomorrow-we die’ culture of the few affluent and powerful class in Negros society – the hacenderos and landlord-compradors.”

The festival, Arbolario said, instills among the people the culture of escapism and obscurantism, where they have to accept and forget their sufferings caused by the exploitation and oppression of the landlords.

Alejandro Deoma, one of the founding organizers of Teatro Obrero (Workers Theater) and now Bayan Muna (People First) provincial chairman said, to the festival’s organizers “sometimes it is necessary to temporarily free ourselves from the harsh realities of life. But it is something else if we are conditioned to avoid, or obscure and dilute, the day-to-day social and class contradictions in Negros society, as what Masskara seems to be promoting.”

Profitable business

Prof. Virgilio Aguilar of the University of St. La Salle said that big business has now taken over the Masskara, turning it into “a one-shot huge money-making activity in the region.”

Masskara, Aguilar stressed, is no longer associated with crisis and poverty in Negros, especially in tiempo muerto, but with “liquor, restaurants, bars, sexy women and bold dancers.”

Another La Salle professor, Elias Patriarca, agreed, saying that “the original intention of Masskara to generate a culture of optimism, sharing and cooperation among Negrenses mired in poverty and hunger, was replaced by the business penchant for profit-making, and the elitist culture of consumerism, commercialism and repression.”

Eli Tajanlangit, this year’s Masskara Festival director admitted, “The Festival ceases to be an expense, but an investment that will reap economic benefits for (Bacolod City).” Patriarca, however, stressed that “if the Masskara brought new investments, it is still the elite who benefit from them, not the masa.”

Richard Sarrosa, leader of the Negros chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines) said that “it is ironic that while sugar workers and peasants cry for land, jobs, rights and freedom, the elite have the gall to celebrate and spend lavishly as if everything is just normal.”

Patriarca said that it is high time to promote the true meaning of the Masskara Festival because after all, “we need such fervor to overcome the crisis, and pursue the path to social change.” Bulatlat

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