The city government has shelved this year’s 83rd Charter Day activities set on June 18 as it continues to battle the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

“The postponement of our celebration is indefinite until better times come. We hope for the understanding of our people as this is a move to contain Covid-19,” Mayor Evelio Leonardia said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, the city government announced that Secretary Salvador Panelo, chief legal counsel of President Rodrigo Duterte, was supposed to be the guest of honor and speaker during the Charter Day program at the Government Center lobby on Friday afternoon.

Leonardia said the decision to postpone the public celebration was based on the recommendation of the Bacolod Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), chaired by Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), led by its executive director City Administrator Em Ang.

“In anticipation, we had already invited Secretary Salvador Panelo to be our honored guest and speaker. However, because of our present Covid-19 figures, we made another assessment of the situation. Our IATF and EOC have recommended that it is best that we postpone the event until better times come,” he added.

As of June 16, Bacolod has a total of 11,534 Covid-19 cases, including 1,918 active cases; 9,324 recoveries; and 292 deaths, records of the Department of Health-Western Visayas showed.

The Charter Day celebration is one of the major activities of the “Mga Adlaw Sang Paghanduraw,” the city’s annual commemoration of history, art, and culture, from June 12 to 20 as provided in City Ordinance 616.

This year, scheduled activities also included photo exhibits at various locations in the city.

“We thank Secretary Panelo for also graciously accepting our decision to postpone the event. We wish to assure our fellow Bacolodnons that we will continue to give due honor and respect to the observance of that historic day of June 18, 1938,” Leonardia said.

On that day 83 years ago, President Manuel L. Quezon signed Commonwealth Act 326 which created the City of Bacolod.

“We believe that singular event was a major factor that catapulted Bacolod to where it is today,” the mayor said.

The year 2021 would have marked the third time that the city will celebrate its Charter Day on June 18, after it had celebrated the occasion every October 19 in the past 80 years.

Bacolod held its first June 18 Charter Day celebration in 2019, after President Duterte signed Republic Act 11146 or the new “Bacolod City Charter Day Act,” that also declared June 18 of every year as a special non-working holiday in the city. (PNA)