At half the usual budget Cebu’s 444th Anniversary Celebration starts today

CEBU, Philippines - Gov. Hilario Davide III only approved barely half of the total budget allotted for the weeklong activities to celebrate the 444th founding anniversary of the Province of Cebu which kicks off today.

Included in the 2013 annual budget of the Province of Cebu is the P3 million for the founding anniversary celebration.

Acting Budget Officer Danilo Rodas disclosed that only P1.7 million was approved by Davide to be spent in this year’s celebration.

The Province of Cebu last year, under then governor Gwendolyn Garcia , spent P2.5 million out of the same amount of P3 million appropriation in the annual budget.

Davide earlier declared Capitol will only hold a weeklong celebration instead of the usual month-long activities as practiced during the time of Garcia.

Among the activities no longer included in this year’s celebration are the holding of the Governor’s Ball, which Davide finds extravagant, and the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo even if it has an appropriation of P5 million, P15 million lower than last year’s.

The flag raising ceremony today to be attended by provincial, city and municipal officials will mark the opening of the celebration to be followed by the opening of a one-week Agro-Fair at the back of the Capitol Building.

The Our Cebu Program will be launched today in coordination with the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI).

The program is about capacitating each town and city of the Province of Cebu to make them attractive places to live, work, play, invest, and do business.

The program implements interventions and initiatives geared towards making Cebu a model province.

Tomorrow will be the health and wellness activities, free services of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority; and legal clinic of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines at the Capitol gounds.

There will be “bangga sa komedya” and “bangga sa kanta” on Monday while the anniversary mass will be held Tuesday morning and the anniversary program will be after lunchtime.

The Gabii sa Sugbo will be held on Wednesday to be attended by the guests of the governor.

The Agro-Fair continues even on Saturday and Sunday until Tuesday which is the founding day.

August 6 is a special non-working holiday in the entire Province of Cebu including the highly urbanized cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu.

Republic Act 8952 provides that the holiday for private and public offices is to be enjoyed all over Cebu, including Cebu City and other component cities.

In 1993, a resolution was approved by the Provincial Board stating that Spain’s King Philip II, in a royal cedula, appointed Miguel Lopez de Legazpi as Governor of Cebu on August 6, 1569.

Earlier, there was a dispute over whether Cebu City, as a highly urbanized city, is covered by RA 7698, which declares a special non-working public holiday in the province every August 6.

Former first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas introduced RA 8952 amending RA 7698 to include Cebu City in the declaration as well as other component cities which put to rest all arguments. — (FREEMAN)