BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said Wednesday, February 14, the change of the date of the Charter Day will not affect the MassKara Festival celebration.
“It will not at all affect the MassKara Festival because by now, considering the magnitude and the success of the festival, it is an institution that is permanent in Bacolod and it is here to stay,” he said.
Leonardia added that with or without Charter Day observance, the MassKara Festival can stand on its own.
Former mayor Monico Puentevella had earlier questioned House Bill 5875 filed by Representative Greg Gasataya which seeks to declare June 18 of every year a special non-working public holiday known as “Bacolod City Charter Day.”
The measure was approved on second reading last week.
Puentevella said the move to change the city’s Charter Day from October 19 to June 18 is a betrayal of public trust.
“It is treacherous because the people of Bacolod do not know that they are trying to insist that June 18 is the city’s Charter Day in spite of the fact that the National Historical Commission reiterated its position that October 19 is the Charter or Foundation Day of Bacolod,” he said.
The proposed legislation amends Republic Act (RA) 7724 that supposedly set a wrong date for the celebration of the Charter Day of Bacolod.
Leonardia said it is only a betrayal if they will not correct the history since they already know the correct date of the city’s Charter Day.
“It was clear that President Manuel L. Quezon signed Commonwealth Act 326 creating Bacolod as a city on June 18, 1938,” he said.
He added that RA 7724 created the legally unfounded belief that the Charter Day is on October 19 and they gathered a background that October 19 was the inauguration of then mayor Alfredo Montelibano Sr.
“We have a picture and the picture is worth more than just words, and it’s a reflection of reality. For me, just because we were practicing this or observing this for the past 79 years, it doesn’t mean that we will continue this practice,” the mayor said. “It is now the right time to change history because we still have a future to reckon with and if it will be corrected, at least for the next 100 years or thousands years, they will be celebrating a correct date of the Charter Day.”
Leonardia said there is no malice in correcting the Charter Day and this is all about history and public records.
“There is nothing personal here or even political and those who claimed that there’s a personal issue here, it’s only a diversionary tactic,” he added.
The mayor noted that before the bill was approved, the congressmen also discussed and checked the merits of the proposition and the movant in the committee level of the public hearing in Congress was former president Gloria Macapaga-Arroyo that for sure had comprehended the situation because she's a former president.
City Legal Officer Joselito Bayatan said the late President Diosdado Macapagal was also the one who changed history, when he was a congressman in 1950s, he change the Independence Day from July 4 to June 12.