Events: US Envoy Gets Invitation to Bacolod City’s 2012 MassKara

United States Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. was formally invited to the 2012 MassKara Festival by Mayor Evelio Leonardia, at a welcome reception for him at the Bacolod City Government Center last Saturday.
Leonardia, together with festival director Eli F. J. Tajanlangit, handed Thomas the official invitation of the city to be the guest of honor at the 33rd MassKara Festival in October 2012.
The mayor said “33” is a good number and since the 2012 MassKara Festival is the last under his term as mayor, it will certainly be a spectacular one that will be remembered for long.
Leonardia said the ambassador’s visit bolstered the stature of Bacolod and the morale of its people.
At the welcome reception, the mayor also gave Thomas the symbolic key to the city, afterwhich they exchanged gifts in the presence of city officials.
For his part, Thomas thanked Leonardia and the city officials for the warm welcome for him and his party. He said he is impressed by what the Leonardia administration has done to Bacolod City and promised him of his support.
He also mentioned the mayor’s role as the lucky charm of Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao, for carrying the boxer’s belt during his fights.
Thomas was in Bacolod to meet with local artists and attend the 3rd Bacolod Jazz Festival. He also paid a courtesy call on Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. at the Provincial Capitol.
This was Thomas’s second visit to Negros Occidental. The first was on November 12, 2010, when he inducted the new batch of Peace Corps volunteers assigned around the country. Thomas assumed his post as US Ambassador to the Philippines on April 27, 2010.*