President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said that while the past few years have been difficult for everyone, it is time for the people to return to their normal lives as the Covid-19 pandemic is now "fading away."
Marcos said this in a welcome luncheon at the MassKara Festival in Bacolod City on Sunday, October 23.
In his speech, the President recognized that the celebration was important as it signals that the situation was slowly returning to normal and in time for the Christmas season.
"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," he said.
According to the President, the pandemic is now "fading away," and Filipinos are now learning to live with it.
"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," Marcos said.
"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 the Covid hit," he added.
President Marcos said the celebration of the MassKara Festival allows Filipinos to show the rest of the world what they can do.
"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," he said.
"Ito ngayon ang MassKara Festival ay isang pagdiriwang hindi lamang sa pagbubukas ng Bacolod kung hindi sa buong Pilipinas (The MassKara Festival is a celebration of not just the opening of the Bacolod, but of the entire Philippines)," he added.
The MassKara Festival began in 1980 following a series of sugar crises suffered by Bacolodnons and Negrenses. Specifically, the crisis was caused by the oversupply of sugar in the international market, which caused world sugar prices to drop.
The colorful smiling masks in the festival symbolize their resiliency and unity despite challenges and problems.