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[av_heading heading=’‘Lights of Bago’ pays tribute to Michael Jackson’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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Tuesday, January 3, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Thousands of people flocked to Bago City, Negros Occidental to witness the “Lights of Bago,” a “symphony of fireworks.”
Themed “Heal the World,” this year’s edition was a tribute to the “King of Pop” Michael Jackson, said Mayor Nicholas Yulo.
A 20-minute musical fireworks display was held at the Manuel Torres Memorial Sports Complex at 8 p.m. on New Year’s Day.
The Bago City government estimated the crowd on Sunday night at around 50,000.
While the local government has been holding the event since 2009, it started financing it with P500,000 a year in 2010, Yulo said.
Raymond Stoffel, a retired international corporate lawyer from Luxembourg married to a native of Barangay Poblacion, Bago City, came up with the idea for Lights of Bago. The couple are now living abroad.
Aiming to put Bago City on the tourism map, Stoffel financed the very first Lights of Bago in 2009, Yulo said.
When Stoffel left the Philippines, then mayor Ramon Torres (now vice mayor) continued the event.
Yulo hopes the Sangguniang Panlungsod could pass an ordinance institutionalizing the event.
“Man in the Mirror,” “Black or White” and “Heal the World,” among others — songs that depict dreams for a peaceful world — accompanied the fireworks display./PN
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