By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
Former Bacolod City Mayor Monico Puentevella yesterday said he expects the house bill seeking to move the city’s Charter Day from October 19 to June 18 will not pass the Senate, pointing out, no public hearings over the matter were ever held in the city and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines has twice denied previous attempts to make such a change.
He went on to call the initiative an “insult” to the legislators who passed the initial law marking the date; particularly the late Edgardo Angara, who approved the law during the former senate president’s time in office.
The former mayor was joined by Bacolod City Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr., who said the bill in question has “legal issues.”
The city councilor previously submitted a position paper regarding the matter, citing a 1938 resolution, signed by then-Mayor Fernando Cuadra, that converted Bacolod City from a municipality to the city, pointing out, “Nowhere did the said document mention June 18 as the birth of Bacolod City.”
Gamboa mentioned Commonwealth Act 326, or the The Charter of Bacolod as a City, which was approved on June 18, 1938, but stated: “The city government provided for in this charter shall be organized immediately after the appointment and qualification of the city mayor, and the appointment and induction into office of the members of the city council.”
He explained, the inauguration and installation of city officials was supposed to take place on October 5, 1938, as described in a resolution dated September 28, 1938; however, due to scheduling conflicts with former President Manuel Quezon, along with bad weather, the ceremony was moved to October 19, 1938.
“When was the late Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Montelibano, Sr. appointed, installed, and inaugurated?” he asked. “It was on October 19, 1938.”
In response to Puentevella’s speculation, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia asked, “Who is he to say that?”
With regard to RA 7724, which marked October 19 as the city’s Charter Day, Leonardia, who earlier requested Bacolod City lone district Rep. Greg Gasataya to submit a bill to change the date, said the law “created the legally unfounded belief that the Bacolod City Charter Day is on October 19.”
Gasataya echoed the sentiment, calling Gamboa’s argument that the city was created upon the appointment of a mayor and induction of a city council a “misconception.”
Leonardia also presented RA 170, which marked the creation of the City of Dagupan, where a Supreme Court decision argued, “The City of Dagupan created by said act came into existence as a legal entity or a public corporation upon approval of Act. No. 170, on June 20, 1947.”
The decision said the creation of a city and the organization of a government are separate entities; surmising, a public corporation or city “comes into existence from the moment the law or charter that creates it becomes effective.”/DGB, WDJ
