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Monday, September 20, 2004
When should Mandaue hold its Charter Day?
IT’S just three weeks since the 35th anniversary of the charter of Mandaue City but there’s already a proposal to hold celebrations at an earlier date.
Instead of celebrating the charter day every Aug. 30, the anniversary is proposed to be held on June 21 to commemorate the day the law creating Mandaue as a city was signed.
City Hall consultant and former city councilor Alfonso Albaño said yesterday that celebrating the cityhood of Mandaue would be more meaningful if it were held on June 12.
Albaño said Aug. 30 was only a designated date for the formal organization of the government of the City of Mandaue.
“What was there on Aug. 30? We should remember the day the law creating Mandaue City was signed. We are only after relevance and the appropriate date,” he said
The former councilor made the research upon a directive of Mayor Thadeo Ouano, who encouraged Albaño to draft a measure and endorse it to the City Council.
Ouano could not be reached for comment yesterday afternoon.
A compilation entitled “Mandaue City Retold” by City Hall employee Dexter Paul Fortuna showed it was on June 21, 1969 that then president Ferdinand Marcos, while on board a presidential yacht, approved the bill creating Mandaue as a city.
Fortuna’s research also showed that Marcos later signed Proclamation 586 on Aug. 6, 1969 designating Aug. 30 as the date for the formal organization of the government of the City of Mandaue.
Albaño, however, said there is no hurry in the proposal since the next charter anniversary, be it August or June, is still months away.
The former councilor said he first saw the dates when he was a councilor in the 1980’s. He brought the matter for discussion but he didn’t get support, so the idea didn’t “take off.”
Besides, the mayor then was Demetrio Cortes Sr., who lobbied for the cityhood of Mandaue in 1968.
Albaño said that nobody else raised the issue.
The City has been celebrating Charter Day for the past 35 years every Aug. 30 and Albaño wouldn’t know if there is anyone against the transfer of the celebration to June 21.
“Nganong mahibong man ta nga mausab (Why should we be surprised with the change)?” he said, adding that the country’s Independence Day was moved from July 4 to June 12.
Albaño said he wouldn’t oppose a public hearing on the matter.
After his term ended this year, Albaño is now consultant for legislative affairs of the City. He was also active in the research and preparation of the first Mantawi Festival held in 2002. AAG
(September 20, 2004 issue)
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