Bacolod City Councilor Wilson Gamba, Jr. recently expressed his intentions of submitting an opposition paper before the Bacolod City Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) arguing against the proposal to shift Bacolod City’s charter date from October 19 to June 18.

Last November, the city councilor called for more public hearings after the SP passed a resolution endorsing a bill before the House of Representatives, authored by Bacolod City Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya, requesting the said change.

Gamboa, who chairs the committee on history, culture, and arts, said the charter day observance cannot be separated from the annual MassKara Festival, which takes place in October.

“[The] MassKara festival is only an element of the charter celebration,” he said. “To do otherwise, you are desecrating history.”

The House Bill was filed back in June 2017 after Gasataya received a letter from Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia asking him to request the change.

He cited June 18 as the day former President Manuel Quezon signed Commonwealth Act No. 326, which established Bacolod as a city. 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, last May, 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 City Councilor Em Ang, also a co-author on the endorsement resolution, set the fourth Sunday of October as the permanent schedule for the Masskara Festival highlights./NC, WDJ