BACOLOD CITY — The city government here has tapped the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) and the La Consolacion College (LCC)-Bacolod for the conceptualization and design of the logo and commemorative marker of Bacolod’s 80th Year celebration this 2018.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia and Councilor Em Ang, chairperson of the City Council committee on tourism, had already met with local UAP officers led by Bacolod District Chapter president Jonathan Iral and vice president Moises Abellera along with LCC-Bacolod School of Architecture dean Vincent Raymund Alovera.
As Bacolod marks its 80th Charter anniversary this year, however, the issue on the actual date of its Charter Day remains.
The mayor had earlier said it is their position that the Charter Day of Bacolod should be held on June 18 instead of October 19 after they discovered the correct date in the documents signed by President Manuel Quezon.
Based on Republic Act No. 7724, otherwise known as Bacolod City Charter Day, “October 19 of every year is declared as a special non-working holiday in the City of Bacolod.”
RA 7724 was approved on May 19, 1994 and henceforth, every October 19 of the subsequent years are observed as non-working public holiday in the City of Bacolod, said City Legal Officer Joselito Bayatan in his Legal Opinion No. LO-17-176.
Leonardia said that although he wants to correct this with the recent discovery that the City’s Charter was actually signed on June 18, the holiday remains until the law is amended.
However, he feels the urgency of the amendment considering that Bacolod will commemorate its 80th year thus, the time is appropriate to correct a “historical error.”
“This makes June 18 the actual Charter Day of Bacolod and we should straighten the record,” Leonardia said.
In June last year, Leonardia had written Bacolod City Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya to request him to file a bill to amend RA No. 7724 that erroneously set a wrong date for the celebration of the Charter Day of Bacolod City.
On the same month, Gasataya filed House Bill No. 5875 or “An Act Declaring the 18th Day of the Month of June of Every Year a Special Nonworking Public Holiday in the City of Bacolod to be known as “Bacolod City Charter Day.”
The bill is still pending with the House committee on revision of laws. (Nanette Guadalquiver/PNA)
