Bacolod will ban Coca-Cola products on Masskara Festival 2017

Bacolod will ban Coca-Cola products during the Masskara Festival form October 1 to 22. Bacolod City Council approved a resolution expressing solidarity and sympathy with the sugar industry by supporting its call to ban sponsorship or sale of Coca-Cola products.

The resolution authored by Councilor Cindy Rojas was unanimously approved during the council's regular session on Tuesday, September 26, Sunstar reported.

Sugar planters association protested against Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines Inc. from using high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in their beverages instead of the locally-produced sugar.

“In sympathy to the cause and sentiments of our sugar planters and workers, it is fitting for the City of Bacolod to also ban Coca-Cola during the celebration of MassKara Festival,” Rojas said. She added that to manifest the ban, the organizers of the festival shall not include Coca-Cola in all promotional and advertising materials paraphernalia in all festival sites.

 For his part, Tajanlangit said in a press statement: “The sugar industry is our lifeblood, our heritage, our patrimony. No matter how distant, all of us are connected to it, one way or the other. Some of us may no longer be direct participants in the industry now, but we are all heirs of sugar. The sugar industry is us.”


The Province of Negros Occidental banned Coca-Cola products in the Panaad Festival earlier this year and several towns and cities in the province. These include Hinigaran, Isabela, La Carlota City, Pontevedra, E. B. Magalona, Bago City, Binalbagan, Hinoba-an, and Toboso.