BACOLOD City Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said Thursday the position paper of Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. regarding House Bill 5875 which seeks to declare June 18 of every year a special non-working public holiday known as “Bacolod City Charter Day” should be addressed to the House of Representatives and not to the City Council.
Familiaran said that Gamboa submitted his position paper during the regular session Wednesday, February 14, and it was only noted by the City Council.
“He should submit it to Congress because the proponent of the bill was Congressman Greg Gasataya and there is no bearing here,” he said.
He added that Gamboa only presented the opinion of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), and the final arbiter is still the Congress.
The bill was already approved on second reading last week.
Gamboa, in a press statement, said that September 28, 1938 City Council Resolution signed by then Municipal Mayor Fernando Cuadra and the City Council expressly stated that “Bacolod as a Municipality is now converted to a City” and nowhere did said document mentioned about June 18 as the “birth of Bacolod City.”
He said the then Municipality of Bacolod shall now be considered a defunct Municipality and then into a City “only after the inauguration and installation of all city officials that will take place on October 5, 1938” as provided by said resolution approved in a Special Session of September 28, 1938.
“However, due to the schedule availability of President Manuel Quezon in coming to Bacolod and the bad weather condition at that time, October 5 was moved to October 19, 1938,” he added.
Gamboa noted that Dr. Maria Serena Diokno, former Chairman of the NHCP, wrote former Bacolod City Representative Anthony Golez Jr. in a document dated January 9, 2013, that the City of Bacolod started its “corporate existence” on October 19, 1938 thus it should celebrate its Charter Day every October 19.
“NHCP notes that Section 54 Commonwealth Act 326 states that the said law shall take effect upon its approval, but then again, the said law was shortly amended by Commonwealth Act 404, to the extent of 17 out of its 54 sections by the then President Quezon signed Commonwealth Act 404 on October 19, 1938, “the very day he inaugurated Bacolod as a Chartered City”,” Gamboa said.
He said that NHCP chairman Dr. Rene Escalante had earlier reiterated their position that while Commonwealth Act 326 was “enacted” June 18, 1938, Bacolod City officially came into corporate existence when it was inaugurated by President Quezon on October 19, 1938 during the “foundational rites” attended by its people,” the reason why every year following 1938, the people of Bacolod have celebrated October 19, 1938 as their City’s “Charter/Foundation,” thus perpetuating this date as the “traditional” Charter Day of Bacolod City.
“Thus, I firmly believe that history does not commit error, it records actual events and attested true by tons of documents,” Gamboa added.