LA CASTELLANA -- Three municipalities in Negros Occidental were recipients of the Francis Burton Harrison's bust.
Assistant Secretary Francis Tolentino, presidential adviser for political affairs, turned over the bust to the towns of La Castellana, San Enrique, and Pulupandan, during his visit in the province Friday, April 20.
Tolentino first went to La Castellana to unveil the bust and turned over to Mayor Rhumyla Nicor-Mangilimutan, a certified true copy of the Executive Order No. 101 signed by Harrison on January 1, 1918, officially making La Castellana a municipality after its separation from Pontevedra town.
Then he visited the towns of San Enrique and Pulupandan, where he also turned over the same.
Harrison also acted on the same petitions of the towns of San Enrique and Pulupandan through the Executive Orders No. 49 and 95, respectively.
Mangilimutan said Harrison was declared by the Office of the President as the "Modern Day Father of La Castellana" after he acted on the petition of the residents to reorganize La Castellana into an independent municipality on December 19, 1917.
The mayor said the installation of the bust will be tentatively on June 12 with the presence of retired director general Ronald de la Rosa.
Mangilimutan said they considered the bust significant because, without Harrison's action, La Castellana will never be a municipality.
"We will start to educate the residents especially the children about Harrison, being a significant part of the town's history," she added.
Tolentino said he started his intensive research about Harrison when he found his tomb at the Manila North Cemetery while he was still a chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority.
Tolentino said Harrison was an American who later became a Filipino after he served the Philippines as the first governor general during the Commonwealth era. (GYM)