Bacolod (Filipino: Lungsod ng Bacólod), is a highly-urbanized Philippine city. It is the capital of the Negros Occidental province. Having a total of 531,943 inhabitants according to the LGPMS Census, it is the most populous city in the Western Visayas Region. It is currently ranked as the 17th most populous city in the Philippines. It is part of a metropolitan area called Metro Bacolod, which includes the cities of Silay and Talisay. It is notable for its famous MassKara Festival held during the 3rd week of October. Known for being a relatively friendly city, it bears the nickname "City of Smiles". Bacolod City recently ranked no. 1 in a survey by MoneySense Magazine as the "Best Place to Live in the Philippines". Bacolod ranks 3rd among the top ten "Next Wave Cities" of the Philippines for the best location for business process outsourcing and offshoring according to the 2010 report of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology.

Bacólod (English: Bacolod), is derived from bakólod (Old Spelling: bacólod), the Old Hiligaynon or Old Ilonggo (Old Spelling: Ylongo and Ilongo) word for a "hill, mound, rise, hillock, down, any small eminence or elevation", since the resettlement was founded on a stony, hilly area, now the barangay of Granada. It was officially called Ciudad de Bacólod (City of Bacolod) when Municipalidad de Bacólod (Municipality of Bacolod) was converted into a city in 1938.^{[citation needed]}

Mara Hautea Schnittka , better known by her stage name Julia Montes (born March 19, 1995 in Quezon City), is a Filipina actress and commercial model of German-Filipino descent. She was a cast member of Goin' Bulilit before appearing as Clara in Mara Clara. Studied in Blessed Hope Christian School. With Direk Sheila Noreen Gamo, she auditioned for "Eat Bulaga" but failed. She then auditioned for Goin' Bulilit.

Montes was born in Pandacan, Manila to Gemma Hautea and Martin Schnittka, a german. Her father left her since she was a baby and only her deaf mother raised her, with the help of her grandmother, Flory Hautea.

She studied High School in Blessed Hope Christian School and graduated in the year 2011, with good grades. She sings and dances at ASAP ^{[disambiguation needed ]}.

Montes started acting since 2004, appearing in commercials like in Nido Milk, Her first TV series in on Hiram ^{[disambiguation needed ]}, an ABS-CBN drama series. Then, after on, she moved on in the child sitcom, Goin' Bulilit in ABS-CBN, using her name as Mara Schnittka from 2004 to 2008.

Enrique Gil is a Filipino actor. He is currently under contract with ABS-CBN and Star Magic. He became famous for portraying the role of BJ in the teleserye Budoy;

Enrique Mari Bacay Gil V( Quenito Gil) was born on March 30, 1992 in Cebu City. He is the second son of Enrique Sr. and Bambi Gil. He has an older brother Enrique Jr. (Javier/Javi) and a younger sister Diandra Frances. He is a Cebuano with Spanish roots.

Gil started acting in the summer of 2008. He was 16 years old then, and boredom led him to enroll in commercial modeling workshops as well as musical theater workshops conducted by Trumpets. He later appeared in a series of TV commercials, including one of Lewis and Pearl's ad.

He landed his first television role in the action-drama series Pieta where he played Harold. Before Pieta, he has made a cameo appearance in I Love Betty La Fea as one of the Ecomodels.

A year after, he was cast in the sitcom George and Cecil as Carlo Barredo. He also was cast in the indie film Pitas.

In 2010, he co-starred in the indie war film Diego and His Brothers. In April, He joined ASAP XV as one of Star Magic's "Gigger Boys". In May, he co-starred in the teleserye Rosalka where he played the role of Andrew. He was originally set to appear in Kokey @ Ako, but his character was written off in favor of Jason Francisco. He played the character of Joco in the film Till My Heartaches End. He got his first hosting stint in the ABS-CBN teen variety show, Shoutout!.

Sarah Asher Tua Geronimo is a Filipino recording artist and actress. Geronimo started her official debut in show business after having won the Star for a Night singing competition. In 2003, after winning the contest, she released her first album entitled Popstar: A Dream Come True under Viva Records. It is considered as Geronimo's most successful album which sold more than 210,000 copies nationwide.

She is the first Filipino artist to receive a platinum award for a DVD copy of her concert The Other Side in 2005 and is currently the only artist who has a platinum record for 4 DVDs of her concert. Her fourth one was awarded with triple platinum status in December of 2010.

Moreover, Geronimo received from the Aliw Awards the "Best Female Major Concert" award for Record Breaker and the "Entertainer of the Year" award, making her the youngest artist to receive it in history.

Geronimo was crowned as the Philippines' Box-Office Queen in 2008 and 2009 for her movies, A Very Special Love and You Changed My Life.