In response to the rejection of his request for more public hearings on the recent endorsement by the Bacolod City Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) of a bill, earlier submitted by Bacolod City Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya before the House of Representatives, requesting Bacolod City’s Charter Day be changed from October 19 to June 18, City Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr. said, “I owe it to the people of Bacolod City,” calling it his “sacred duty.”

“When I’m confronted with issues concerning their interest and welfare, I will be a councilor who will be judicious, apprised, properly informed and enlightened,” he added. “There is no rule or any provision in the internal rules or any laws that prohibits any member of the Sangguniang Panlungsod to conduct a public hearing on matters involving public interest, more so, if the issue is related to his/her committee.”

Gamboa chairs the Committee on History, Culture and Arts.

City Councilor Caesar Distrito previously responded to the request for public hearings on the matter, saying, “The [SP] had already approved the resolution.”

“If [Gamboa] was absent or went out of the session hall when the subject matter was discussed, then it is his problem,” he added.

Meanwhile, Distrito, alongside City Councilors Dindo Ramos, Em Ang and Cindy Rojas, issued a formal response to Gamboa, characterizing his actions as “a blatant display of disrespect to the policy-making body.”

They also suggested Gamboa read the text of City Ordinance No. 588, series of 2012, noting they did not refer to June 18 as “Charter Day” but as the day Commonwealth Act No. 326 was signed, which established the “Charter of the City of Bacolod.”

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia earlier cited June 18 as the day former President Manuel Quezon signed the said act. However, according to the Negros Occidental Historical Council, it was only on October 19, 1938 when Quezon visited Bacolod City and organized the new city government by appointing the city’s first mayor, Alfredo Montelibano, Sr.

Meanwhile, back in May of this year, the SP approved an ordinance formalizing the schedule of the annual MassKara Festival, which commemorates the city’s Charter Day every year.

The ordinance, authored by Ang, set the fourth Sunday of October as the permanent schedule for the Masskara Festival highlights./JSG, WDJ