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Monday, December 26, 2016
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ROXAS City – War veterans in Capiz urged local government officials and House representatives in the province to push for the declaration of Dec. 20 as an annual local nonworking public holiday.
The province is celebrating the Liberation of Capiz that day every year.
Making the day a holiday will “further highlight and encourage widespread awareness on and public attendance to the occasion,” said Antonio Balgos, president of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines Sons and Daughters Association, Inc. Roxas City District.
Just this Dec. 20, Capiz celebrated the 72nd anniversary of the Liberation of Capiz and the Capiz Veterans Memorial Day.
On Dec. 20, 1944, through the efforts of local freedom fighters, Capiz was freed from the two-year-and-eight-month domination of Japanese forces.
Japanese guerillas arrived on April 16, 1942 and established garrisons in this city and the municipalities until local revolutionaries staged a three-pronged attacked on Japanese military camps.
A provincial ordinance passed in 1994 formally set the Liberation of Capiz anniversary observance every Dec. 20.
The occasion became an official capitol event led by the Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Office in 2009.
“With this, our veterans can now rest, assured that their heroic deeds and patriotic legacies will always continue to be well-remembered and appreciated,” Balgos said.
Three of the five living World War 2 veterans in Capiz, postwar veterans, veterans’ children association members, Philippine Army’s 61st Infantry Battalion soldiers, Boy Scouts of the Philippines troopers and Knights of Columbus members, among others, attended.
Brigadier General Jon Aying, 3rd Infantry Division commander; Veterans Federation of the Philippines regional president Hannibal Lipardo; veterans’ children association Roxas City Northeast Post past president and Councilor Corazon Tiangco; and Vice Gov. Esteban Evan Contreras graced the event. (PIA/PN)
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