Special Non-working Holiday in Bacolod on June 18, as city marks 82nd Charter Day with simple rites, health protocols

The City of Bacolod will celebrate its 82nd Charter Day on June 18 with a simple ceremony, in the light of the global pandemic from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

It will be a special non-working holiday in Bacolod that day, Thursday, June 18.

In his Executive Order No. 40 series of 2020, Mayor Evelio Leonardia said, “In the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, the celebration of the 82nd Charter Day shall still be very special but it will be subject to the health protocols issued by the Department of Health and the guidelines set by the national government.”

The mayor said this is now the second year that the City is celebrating its Charter Day on June 18, after it had celebrated the occasion every October 19 in the past 80 years.

Bacolod held its first June 18 Charter Day anniversary celebration last year, after President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11146, or the new “Bacolod City Charter Day Act.”

In the same executive order, the mayor also created the Support Committee for the 82nd Bacolod City Charter Day.

The committee is chaired by the mayor, with Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran as senior co-chairman, Councilor Archie Baribar as co-chairman, and City Administrator Em Ang and Secretary to the Mayor Atty. Edward Joseph Cuansing as executive directors.

The Charter Day celebration is one of the major activities of the “Mga Adlaw Sang Paghanduraw,” the city’s annual commemoration of history, art and culture, from June 12 to 20 as provided in City Ordinance No. 616.

PROGRAM

The ceremonies will be held at the Bacolod City Government Center lobby. It will start with a mass at 1:30 p.m.

The program proper will start at 3:00 p.m.

Rep. Greg Gasataya will deliver an inspirational message, and Leonardia will give his Charter Day message.

Leonardia will also honor outstanding individuals who are this year’s Mayor’s Special Citation awardees.

The guest of honor and speaker is Dr. Dolores Rommela Tiples-Ruiz, a fellow of the Philippine College of Physicians and the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

She had worked as Infectious Disease Physician in Botswana, Southern Africa, and Saudi Arabia.

She was a member of the National Rapid Response Team Ebola Preparedness Program of the Botswana Ministry of Health.

She is a consultant on Infection Control in Bacolod and Silay Cities, president of Pula Negros- HIV Advocacy Group of the Philippine College of Physicians and the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

HISTORICAL RECORD RECTIFIED

As early as when they assumed their 2016-2019 term, Leonardia had suggested to Gasataya that on the basis of an authentic historical document found in recent years that factually established October 19, 1938 as the birth date of Bacolod as a city, the best remedy was for Congress to pass a new law to supersede the old one and rectify the historical error on the City’s founding date from October 19, 1938 to June 18, 1938.

in an official communication later in 2017, Leonardia conveyed to Gasataya that, “We feel the urgency of this amendment considering that in 2018, Bacolod will commemorate its 80th year of existence as a city.”

In 2018, Leonardia also wrote the senators, including Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, then chair of the Senate Committee on Local Government, to request their support for the swift passage of the Gasataya bill that will correct the history of Bacolod as to its founding date.

After Gasataya filed House Bill No. 5875 in 2017, he pursued it, with the support of local officials, in the Lower House and the Senate. Eventually, President Rodrigo Duterte signed it into law as Republic Act No. 11146 on November 9, 2018.

Thus, RA 11146 now officially recognizes June 18, 1938 as the day when then President Manuel L. Quezon signed into law Commonwealth Act No. 326 that created the City of Bacolod. It is also now a special non-working public holiday in the city, the City PIO said in a statement.*