FORMER Bacolod City mayor Monico Puentevella said on Monday, September 3, he is expected the Senate will not approve House Bill No. 7044 which seeks to declare June 18 of every year a special non-working public holiday known as “Bacolod City Charter Day.
Puentevella, who held a press conference with Councilors Wilson Gamboa Jr. and Claudio Puentevella at his residence on September 3, said he attended the plenary session at the Senate last week where the bill has already reached the plenary session of the Senate after it was passed on first reading.
“I was invited by the Senate to attend the plenary session. To the surprised of Senator Sonny Angara, my colleague in Congress for six years, that I was not given an opportunity to air my opposition and the opposition of Councilor Gamboa on this particular bill,” he said.
Congressman Greg Gasataya filed the bill on June 13, 2017, upon the request of Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
The proposed legislation amends Republic Act (RA) No. 7724 that set a wrong date for the celebration of the Charter Day of Bacolod, the former mayor said.
The bill is already scheduled for the Senate deliberation for second reading.
In November 2017, Puentevella sent a letter to Pangasinan Representative Marlyn Primicias-Agabas, asking for another committee hearing on the controversial move to change the city’s history.
Puentevella said he aired his opposition to change the city’s history several times.
“When the Senate learned that I was not given an opportunity to explain the opposition of the public, the greater number of the Bacolodnons on this bill, two days later, we were given an opportunity by the Senate to air our opposition,” he said.
He said the proponents failed to conduct a public hearing and in previous years, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) also denied the request to change the city’s Charter Day.
Puentevella added that RA 7724 was approved by the late Senator Edgardo Angara in 1994.
On August 29, 2018, Gamboa, chairperson of the City Council Committee on history, culture, and arts, also sent his position papers to Senators Cynthia Villar and Vicente Sotto III.
Gamboa said he raised the two issues such as the legal basis to change the city’s history and the date of reckoning of the Charter Celebration of a municipality, city or even a republic.
“They only cited or their only contention was the Section 54, the effectivity clause provision of the Commonwealth Act 326, which state that this act shall take effect upon its approval, but erroneously or intentionally failed to cite the transitory provision of the same said Act specifically Article 7 Section 50, change government,” he said.
He added the 1935 Constitution patterned after the American Constitution provides that the date of reckoning will be when it actually acquires its corporate existence or personality which is only made in the day of the inauguration or sworn in of the officials into office.
Councilor Puentevella also expressed his opposition to change the city’s history.
“I am standing here and fighting for our history which we enjoyed every 19th of October. I am positive that the Senate will be enlightened on this matter,” the councilor said.
They said they are hopeful that the Senate will not act on it (the bill) or denied it completely.
Gasataya said he was informed that the bill was part of the Senate’s agenda in the session.
He said it was House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who moved for its approval in the Congress.
“We will wait for the decision of the Senate and I believe that the law is on our side. We will do our job as long as we are not grandstanding,” he added.
Leonardia said President Manuel L. Quezon signed Commonwealth Act No. 326 creating Bacolod as a city on June 18.
He said RA 7724 created the legally unfounded belief that the Charter Day is on October 19.
The mayor noted that like in the case of Dagupan or Mejia versus Balolong, what the Supreme Court (SC) considered as the birth of the city was the day it was signed into law because that was the time it became the city.
Leonardia said the SC ruled that it is evident that the City of Dagupan created by the said Act came into existence as a legal entity or a public corporation upon the approval Act No. 170, on June 20, 1947, because of a statute which, like Act. No. 170, is to take effect upon its approval, is operative from the exact instance upon its approval or becoming a law.
It is obvious that to create a public corporation or a city is one thing and to organize the government thereof is another. The organization of the government of a city presupposes necessarily the previous existence of the city at the time its government is organized because no officials of the city may be appointed or elected before the city has come into existence, it further stated.
“So the birth of Bacolod technically, legally and historically, should, therefore, be June 18 because that is according to the records. We are not saying that October is not important, but it is another historical event,” Leonardia said.
He said it is a matter of logic and legal arguments and they believed that everything is on their side.
“Who is he (Puentevella) to say what the Senate will do? We are not supposed to preempt them, but from our point of view, we are confident that if logic will prevail this bill will become a law,” he added. (MAP)