BACOLOD City – It is still a nonworking holiday in this city on Oct. 19, clarified Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran.
President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to sign into law House Bill (HB) 7044, which seeks to repeal Republic Act (RA) 7724, Familiaran said.
The vice mayor stressed that he has to make such clarification to prevent confusion following questions about the holiday posted on social media.
RA 7724 declares Oct. 19 of every year as the “Bacolod City Charter Day,” making it a special nonworking holiday in Negros Occidental’s capital city.
Familiaran said this still stands, but added that Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri has informed him that HB 7044 was already forwarded to the Office of the President.
HB 7044 aims to change the Bacolod City Charter Day from Oct. 19 to June 18 of every year.
It was passed in the third and final reading at Senate on Sept. 10.
Rep. Greg Gasataya filed the bill in Congress earlier this year upon the request of political ally Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
RA 7724 “created the legally unfounded belief that the Bacolod City Charter Day is on Oct. 19,” said Leonardia.
He added that then president Manuel Quezon signed Commonwealth Act 326 – which officially turned Bacolod into a city – on June 18, 1938.
According to Gasataya, 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.”/PN
