BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said Tuesday that October 19 is no longer a holiday in Bacolod City.
Leonardia said the new law that declared June 18 as the new Charter Day of Bacolod has effectively repealed the provision of law that made October 19 a holiday.
“Many people are still fixated to October 19 as a public holiday,” he said.
He added that starting this year, June 18 of every year is now a “special non-working holiday” in Bacolod, after President Rodrigo Duterte signed last year Republic Act (RA) 11146 that declares June 18 as the correct date for “Bacolod City Charter Day.”
Bacolod Representative Greg Gasataya had filed House Bill 7044 on June 13, 2017, upon the request of Leonardia, to correct Republic Act 7724 that erroneously set October 19 as the date for the celebration of the Charter Day of Bacolod City.
Gasataya said the amended bill was filed after the discovery that the City’s Charter was actually signed by Quezon on June 18, 1938. October 19, on the other hand, was the inauguration of the first city officials, for which Quezon came to Bacolod, he added.
The new law, RA 11146, was approved by Duterte on November 9, 2018. It commemorates the day when then President Manuel L. Quezon signed and approved into effect Commonwealth Act 326 that created the City of Bacolod.
RA 11146 also provides that the inauguration of the City of Bacolod shall be commemorated every October 19, and that the highlights of the MassKara Festival shall be held on the fourth Sunday of October.
Leonardia said on October 19, there will be activities at the Bacolod Government Center.
“We are not disregarding October 19, we are still recognizing that as the day Bacolod City officials were inaugurated and it’s also a significant historical event for us,” he said. (MAP)