By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The yearly event Lights of Bago, celebrated every New Year’s Day in Negros Occidental’s Bago City, will be postponed again next year — not because of the COVID-19 pandemic — but due to the city’s budget cuts.

Bago City Mayor Nicholas Yulo said yesterday morning that they had a 15 percent reduction in the city’s National Tax Allotment for 2023, which amounts to P250 million.

Despite the budget cuts, Yulo assured the city’s residents that their basic services would remain unaffected.

The Lights of Bago is one of the greatest firework shows in the province.

The event was last held on January 1, 2020, three months before the COVID-19 pandemic began./DGB, WDJ