Talisay still marks town anniversary

CEBU, Philippines – Talisay City yesterday celebrated its 174th founding anniversary as a municipality, but with no fanfare this time.

Talisay was converted into a city in late 2000, but had opted to celebrate its charter day anniversary every January 12.

Still, despite its status as a city, it continues to commemorate its founding day celebration as town every August 16.

In view of the celebration, Mayor Socrates Fernandez issued an executive order declaring 8-12 p.m. of yesterday as a non-working holiday for city hall employees. It was around this time that the city headed by Fernandez himself celebrated the affair with a Holy Mass at the city hall, which was followed by the opening of the photo exhibits which showcase the city's pride: its heritage and local delicacies.

Also at 5 p.m. yesterday, another thanksgiving Mass was scheduled for Talisay at the Sta. Teresa de Avila Parish in barangay Poblacion, the place where the old municipal hall is situated.

Public Information Officer Arturo Bas said there used to be a move to stop the celebration of Talisay's founding day anniversary, considering that it is already a city. But there are still people, even officials, who still prefer to commemorate such affair, hence, every year, even after it was declared a city in the late 2000, the celebration of its founding day anniversary has continued.

Talisay, through a bill authored by first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas which turned into RA 8979, became a city in December 2000. Gullas was its first city mayor after being elected into office in the May 2001 elections.

From P68 million it used to get as its internal revenue allotment, Talisay now gets more than P300 million (for this year alone) as its share of the national income. This is on top of its income of about P100 million it gets from local revenues. (FREEMAN)