By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff reporter
Batac
City—The
Sangguniang Panlungsod here
has unanimously passed a resolution requesting the Philippine Congress through
Reps. Rodolfo C. Fariñas (1st district, Ilocos Norte) and Imelda R.
Marcos (2nd district, Ilocos Norte) to declare every 20th
of October as a legal holiday in the province in celebration of the birth of
Gen. Artemio Ricarte.
Batac councilor Orlando
Mangapit, one of the main sponsors of the measure, said General Ricarte was
born in this city and was a nationalist fighter for the independence of the country
who stood gallantly against the Spanish forces during the Philippine Revolution
in August 312, 1886 and against the Americans during the subsequent Phil-American
War in 1899.
Mr. Mangapit presented the
accomplishments of General Ricarte being appointed as the first Chief of Staff of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines and who became a general during the
Philippine Revolution. He is also acknowledged as the Father of the Philippine
Army.
Relative to this, Mr. Mangapit
said that General Ricarte should be commended and recognized based on his
patriotism, bravery, gallantry and heroism by declaring his birth as a holiday.
Earlier, the proposed
resolution was originally directed to the Congress but without the names of the
two Ilocos Norte representatives but Batac councilor Ibarra Crisostomo
requested the main author for an amendment to specify the names of the two representatives
of the province for them to be the ones to sponsor the measure in Congress.
Currently, Ilocos Norte
celebrates two province-wide holidays, Roque Ablan Sr. Day and Josefa
Llanes-Escoda Day.
Senior citizens assistance
Meanwhile, Mr. Ibarra also proposed an ordinance during for the
grant of death and/or burial assistance in the amount of P3,000 for each
qualified senior citizen in the city.
Though there is already an
existing assistance for senior citizens to this effect, the amount is only
P1,ooo and this was formulated when Batac was still a municipality.
Mr. Crisostomo said it is now
time to increase their assistance to acknowledge the seniors’ contributions to
Batac. He added that if councilors would decide to give more, he would be open
to it.
Mr. Crisostomo also said that
he is also looking into the possibility of including persons with disabilities
(PWDs) with the assistance package, especially those who belong to indigent
families and those who cannot work.
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