MALOLOS
CITY--It’s a non-working holiday in Bulacan today, August 15 as the province
celebrate its 435th founding anniversary.
Governor
Wilhelmino Alvarado said the annual celebration will be observed with simple
ceremonies as the province prepare for bigger celebration next month for the
Linggo ng Bulacan.
The
annual Linggo ng Bulacan is celebrated from September 8 to 15 every year.
He
said that today’s celebration was declared non-working holiday by President
Benigno Aquino III through Proclamation No. 627 signed by Executive Secretary
Paquito Ochoa Jr., last July 30.
Alvarado
said the annual celebration is a time for estimated 3-Million Bulakenyos to
look back at its history can culture.
As
a historic province, the governor stressed that Bulacan is the only province in
the country that hosted three republics namely, the Cacarong Republic of Pandi,
the Biak-Na-Bato Republic and the first Philippine Republic declared by the
Philippine Congress at Barasoain Church on January 23, 1897.
Alvarado
added that abovementioned historical event is a source of pride for the
province which produced heroes and national artists.
With
regards to the founding anniversary of the province, he said that for a long
time Bulacan traced its founding as a province during the American time.
But
research conducted by Drs. Jaime Veneracion, Reynaldo Naguit of the Center for
Bulacan Studies and Isagani Giron of the Samahang Pangkasaysayan ng Bulacan
(Sampaka) shows that Bulacan is identified as a province as early as 1578.
This
is due to a cedulario found by the researchers which states “Provincia De
Bulacan” and dated 1578.
With
regards to exact date of foundation of Bulacan as a province, Veneracion
correlated it with the practice of Spaniard of dedicating the founding a pueblo
to the feast of a patron saint.
In
the case of Bulacan it is the Nuestra Senora de Asuncion, which is also the
patron saint of Bulakan town, the first capital of the province. Dino
Balabo