Gamboa Calls for Search of Missing Quezon ‘Tindalo Tree’ Marker at Bacolod Plaza

The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) approveda resolution dated October 29, 2025, authored by Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr., urging local and national agencies to locate or facilitate the restoration of the missing brass marker that commemorated the “inauguration of Bacolod as a Chartered City” through thehistoric planting of a Tindalo Tree by President Manuel L. Quezon at the Bacolod Public Plaza on October 19, 1938.

The Gamboa Resolutioncalls the attention of the appropriate agencies, particularly the City Tourism Office (CTO), City Engineer’s Office (CEO), Bacolod Environment and Natural Resources Office (BENRO), General Services Office (GSO), the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) -to verify the loss, initiate search and recovery efforts, and, if irretrievable, facilitate the proper restoration or replacement of the missing brass marker commemorating the Tindalo Tree planted by President Manuel L. Quezon at the Bacolod Public Plaza.

The resolution cited that the brass marker, installed at the base of the said Tindalo Tree, memorialized the event, bearing the inscription of President Quezon’s visit and the official date, October 19, 1938, of Bacolod’s cityhood inauguration.

Gamboa, in his resolution. explained that for 87 years, said brass marker served as a living testament to Bacolod’s Charter Day, a tangible and enduring proof of the city’s transformation from municipality to chartered city, and an irreplaceable artifact of Bacolod’s living history and heritage.

He therefore said that “The loss of this important historical marker deprives the present and future generations of Bacolodnons of a vital piece of our identity and heritage.”

Gamboa added that the marker is not merely ornamental but serves as solid documentary proof that October 19, 1938, is the official date when Bacolod was inaugurated as a Chartered City, as witnessed and officiated by President Quezon himself.

If confirmed missing, the Bacolod SP hopes that the marker, or a faithful reproduction of it, will soon be restored to its rightful place at the Bacolod Public Plaza, as the loss of such an important historical marker constitutes a serious cultural and historical concern, meriting immediate attention, verification, and appropriate action from the concerned government agencies.

Gamboa stressed that the brass marker below the lonely Tindalo Tree at the Bacolod Public Plaza is a living proof of Bacolod City’s historical roots and reaffirm the enduring legacy of its October 19 Charter Day.* (OCG)