A faculty member and student from La Consolacion College Bacolod’s Fine Arts program are representing the school and Bacolod’s creative community at the 2026 Yunlin International Puppet Theater Festival in Taiwan, bringing with them a giant MassKara-inspired puppet they designed and created.
Fine Arts instructor Jose “Buglas” P. Carreon Jr., adviser of the Painting Legion, and Bachelor of Fine Arts Studio Art student John Quincy Arroz Hervias, president of the organization, joined the international event featuring puppet theater traditions and performances from Taiwan and overseas.
Their participation grew out of an invitation from the festival organizers, who said they had seen Bacolod’s MassKara celebrations and were impressed by the giant puppets featured in the street parade. The organizers specifically invited the LCC Bacolod ARFIEN MassKara Puppet Team to bring the work to Yunlin, describing the giant puppet as a potential attraction for the festival.
The Yunlin International Puppet Theater Festival is rooted in the preservation and development of BuDaiXi, Taiwan’s traditional glove-puppetry art. According to the invitation sent to LCC Bacolod President Sr. Flolyn S. Catungal, OSA, the festival has been staged for more than 25 years and has welcomed foreign puppet theater groups since 1999.
The 2026 festival runs from Sept. 29 to Oct. 11 in Huwei Township, Yunlin, Taiwan.
Carreon and Hervias brought the colorful MassKara giant puppet as a distinctly Bacolodnon contribution to the international gathering, combining the city’s festival imagery with the visual-art and fabrication skills developed through LCC Bacolod’s Fine Arts program.
Their scheduled activities include venue preparations, workshops and performances from Oct. 8 to 11, culminating in the festival’s closing ceremony.
The invitation provides for the delegates’ round-trip airfare, accommodations and local transportation during their participation in Taiwan.
The international appearance gives LCC Bacolod Fine Arts students and faculty an opportunity to present locally developed creative work beyond the Philippines while engaging with artists working in different traditions of puppetry and performance.
For the college, the participation also highlights how classroom-based and organization-led creative work can move into international cultural spaces, bringing Bacolod’s MassKara identity into dialogue with Taiwan’s long-established puppetry tradition.