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[av_heading tag=’h3′ padding=’10’ heading=’House okays June 18 Bacolod Charter Day ‘ color=” style=’blockquote modern-quote’ custom_font=” size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’18’ custom_class=” admin_preview_bg=” av-desktop-hide=” av-medium-hide=” av-small-hide=” av-mini-hide=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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February 17, 2018
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BACOLOD City – The House of Representatives on its third and final reading has approved the bill that seeks to change the date of the city’s Charter Day.
The House approved House Bill (HB) No. 5875 on Wednesday.
HB No. 5875 seeks to declare June 18 of every year as the Bacolod City Charter Day, making it a special nonworking holiday in Negros Occidental’s capital city.
The bill was approved unanimously, according to bill proponent Rep. Greg Gasataya. It now awaits Senate’s approval.
If passed in the Senate, HB No. 5875 will amend Republic Act (RA) 7724, which declares Oct. 19 of every year as the Bacolod City Charter Day.
Gasataya filed the bill before Congress upon the request of his political ally Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
According to Leonardia, RA 7724 “created the legally unfounded belief that the Bacolod City Charter Day is on Oct. 19.”
Leonardia insists that then president Manuel Quezon signed Commonwealth Act 326 – which officially turned Bacolod into a city – on June 18, 1938.
Gasataya shares the same sentiment. He added that RA 7724 was only enacted on May 19, 1994 “for the purpose of having the Charter Day coincide with the festivities of MassKara Festival.”
Gasataya added that RA 7724 “bears with it the misconception that the city was created on the day of its formal inauguration and the first assembly of the city council on Oct. 19, 1938” thus “causing several problems.”
Earlier, former mayor Monico Puentevella said he wants the non-passage of HB No. 5875.
Puentevella said he will ask from a member of the Senate to block the bill’s passage.
The former mayor said Bacolod came into “corporate existence” on Oct. 19, 1938 when Quezon inaugurated the city, citing the National Historical Commission of the Philippines./PN
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