ANGELES CITY -- The City Government of Angeles City has taken the cue from the Provincial Government of Pampanga and has issued Executive Order 14 suspending classes in all public and private schools in the city as well work in all government offices on June 15 in commemoration of the 24th year anniversary of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.
Acting Mayor Vicenta Vega-Cabigting issued the order on Thursday.
Vega-Cabigting said that commemorating the event is the fitting tribute to the lessons learned from the devastation. She added that while Angeles City has fully recovered from the devastation brought by the calamity, the present generation of Angelenos should not forget one of the most trying times in the history of the city and the province.
"While it has been almost two and half decades since the eruption, it would be insensitive not to remember the tragedy that has reshaped Pampanga to a more resilient community that it is today. We remember the people who lost their lives and the people who sacrificed to help Angeles City and Pampanga recover from the disaster," Vega-Cabigting said.
Work in government offices and classes in all public and private schools for the rest of Pampanga are also suspended for June 15 after Pampanga Governor Lilia Pineda signed Executive Order 006-2015 on Monday.
The executive orders of Angeles City and the Provincial Government, however, do not cover the private sector, leaving to management the discretion to suspend work in respective establishments and offices.
There have been moves in the past to formally commemorate the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo as a holiday.
In 2011, then Pampanga Third District representative Aurelio Gonzalez, Jr. filed House Bill 3948, which seeks to make June 15 every year a non-working day in Pampanga, being Mt. Pinatubo Memorial Day.
Also, First District Representative Joseller Guiao filed a bill to declare June 15 of every year a special non-working holiday in the province, as well as in Angeles City.
The said bills are yet to be approved by the House of Representatives.