By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday requested Bacolod Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya to file a bill to amend RA 7724, which he claims set the wrong date for Bacolod City’s Charter Day observance.
“[RA 7724] created the legally unfounded belief that the Bacolod Charter Day is on October 19,” he said.
In his letter to Gasataya, the mayor wrote, “We hope that Your Honor will expedite the filing of the bill to amend RA 7724 and clearly declare that June 18 is the Bacolod City Charter Day.”
He cited June 18 as the day President Manuel L. Quezon signed Commonwealth Act No. 326, which established Bacolod as a city.
Leonardia said he feels an urgency for this amendment since, in 2018, Bacolod will commemorate its 80th year of existence as a city.
The Mayor’s assertion, however, had been the subject of debate among the Negros Occidental Historical Council, who oppose Leonardia’s plan to move Bacolod City’s charter day from October to June.
In a 2013 position paper, the council noted that October 19 is the date when the city started its “corporate existence,” calling attention to Section 50 of Commonwealth Act No. 236, which provides the city government “will be organized,” following the appointment and qualification of its mayor.
According to the Council, it was only on October 19, 1938 when then-President Manuel L. Quezon came to Bacolod City and organized the new city government by appointing the city’s first mayor, Alfredo Montelibano, Sr./WDJ