Editorial: Changing history

THE officials of Bacolod City are upbeat after the Senate approved on third and final reading the bill that seeks to change the date of the Charter Day on Monday, September 10.

House Bill 7044, which was authored by Bacolod Representative Greg Gasataya, seeks to declare June 18 of every year a special non-working holiday in this Negros Occidental’s capital city.

The measure is in commemoration on the day former president Manuel Quezon signed Commonwealth Act No. 326 creating the city of Bacolod which was on June 18, 1938.

The first mayor of this city, Alfredo Montelibano Sr., was inaugurated on October 19, 1938.

Since then, the city had been celebrating its charter day every October.

However, lately, the current local chief executive, Evelio Leonardia, moved to correct the history, a proposal which gained negative feedback from the opposition.

Unfazed by the criticisms, Leonardia, along with his allies, still pushed to correct history.

After the senators unanimously voted in favor of the measure, the mayor was optimistic, as “after 80 years, we will now have our history in proper order.”

Leonardia, along with other local officials attended the Senate session on Monday, said they are “overwhelmed by the overwhelming votes the senators gave our June 18 Charter Day proposition.”

“Legality, logic, and reason prevailed. The senators saw it the way we saw it. We believe we were able to convince the senators with the merits of our arguments,” the mayor said.

The city government will “give due recognition to October 19 as the day we inaugurated our city officials. But we must distinguish which day was our city created and which day it was inaugurated,” he added.

For the city officials, the measure did not only correct the mistake but correcting the history as well.