BAGUIO CITY – The city is set to celebrate two special non-working holidays next week, on Sept. 1 and 3, for the 114th charter anniversary of the summer capital and Victory Day that led to the end of World War II.
Republic Act 6710 which was passed into law on July 25, 1988 “declar[ed] September 1 of each year as Baguio Charter Day and a special non-working holiday in the city of Baguio to commemorate the anniversary of the said city.”
Baguio, originally called “Kafagway” which in the local dialect means “moss," was chartered in 1909, four years after the Americans finished the construction of Kennon Road also called “Zigzag road” which was carved on mountainsides. The city has since named a number of its roads, streets and parks after American officials.
US Ambassador to the Philippines Mary Kay Carlson will be the guest of honor and speaker during the program on Sept. 1.
Aileen Refuerzo, chief information officer of the city, said Carlson was also the guest of honor and speaker in last year's program.
The Baguio Day celebration will be highlighted by the awarding of three outstanding citizens of Baguio who went through a rigid screening process and beat out 19 other nominees.
Victory Day
Meanwhile, Sept. 3 was declared a special working holiday in the country under Republic Act 11216, passed into law in 2018.
The explanatory provision of the law says it was at Camp John Hay, at the dining area of the US Ambassador’s residence within the reservation that General Tomoyuki Yamashita signed the “Articles of Surrender,” formally ending the Japanese’ occupation in the Philippines.
The photograph of the event that took place more than seven decades ago still hangs on the wall fronting the long wooden dining table where the signing took place.
This year, a re-enactment of the event that led to the end of the war is being ironed out to be done at the Ambassador’s residence at John Hay.
The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, in a press conference earlier this month, said they will be handing “The United States Congressional Medal of Valor” award in another event at the Baguio Convention Center to several Filipino WWII veterans, in recognition of their contribution to the end of the Japanese occupation. (PNA)
