BACOLOD City – Senate approved on second reading the bill declaring June 18 of every year as the “Bacolod City Charter Day” – much to the disappointment of Monico Puentevella.
“The NHCP (National Historical Commission of the Philippines) does not stand to be the proper venue now for [matters of] history,” said the former city mayor and congressman.
House Bill 7044 is also known as “An Act declaring June 18 of every year a special nonworking holiday in the city of Bacolod, province of Negros Occidental, to be known as the ‘Bacolod City Charter Day,’ in commemoration of the day President Manuel L. Quezon signed and approved into effect Commonwealth Act No. 326, creating the city of Bacolod.”
It substituted House Bill 5875 originally introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Greg Gasataya and three other congressmen.
Puentevella said yesterday he has learned that the Senate approved the bill on second reading.
Councilor Caesar Distrito also confirmed the approval. He said Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri informed him about it. He said he also learned that the measure is set to be passed on third and final reading on Sept. 10.
Information on the bill from the Senate website showed that the measure was “approved on second reading with amendments” on Wednesday.
Puentevella is opposed to the June 18 Charter Day. He insists that Bacolod came into “corporate existence” on Oct. 19, 1938 when Quezon inaugurated the city, as per NHCP records.
“They (NHCP) have been ignored totally because of the appeal of the present mayor (Evelio Leonardia) and congressman (Gasataya),” Puentevella said.
But “the greater majority of the people of Bacolod … remain on our stand and position that history will be with us,” he added.
Earlier this year Leonardia and NHCP chairman Rene Escalante exchanged letters making their respective stands on when the real Charter Day of this city is.
Leonardia disagreed with Escalante’s opinion that Bacolod “officially came into corporate existence” when Quezon inaugurated the city officials on Oct. 19, 1938.
“Commonwealth Act 326 was approved on June 18, 1938 and as per its Section 54, the law is effective upon its approval,” Leonardia then said.
“Right there and then, the city was already constituted as a political body corporate and was endowed with the attributes and powers that of a municipal corporation,” he added.
Escalante acknowledged that June 18, 1938 is “technically the date of the cityhood of Bacolod.”
“However, its inauguration by Quezon on Oct. 19, 1938, as provided for by Proclamation No. 325 dated Oct. 3, 1938 formalized the creation of Bacolod Commonwealth Act 326,” he said, adding that the NHCP “recognizes that both dates, June 18 and Oct. 19, have basis in history.”
Moreover, Republic Act 7724 recognizes Oct. 19 as the Bacolod City Charter Day and declares it a nonworking holiday in the city, he said.
“Only Congress is vested with the power to amend or repeal this law, to which power the NHCP defers,” said Escalante.
Leonardia insisted that RA 7724 “created the legally unfounded belief that the Bacolod City Charter Day is on Oct. 19.”/PN
