{"id":175835,"date":"2018-08-09T02:17:51","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T06:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=175835"},"modified":"2018-08-09T02:17:51","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T06:17:51","slug":"bacolod-city-marks-10th-year-iconic-govt-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/08\/09\/bacolod-city-marks-10th-year-iconic-govt-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Bacolod City marks 10th year of \u2018iconic\u2019 gov\u2019t center"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Mayor Evelio Leonardia (3rd from left) awards the first-ever Bacolod Halandumon Award to the Gonzaga heirs Ma. Regina Tanpinco Piccio (center), Jose Cuenca Jr. (3rd from right), and Ma. Josefina Ledesma (2nd from right), in the presence of Portia Familiaran (2nd from left), wife of Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, City Legal Officer Joselito Bayatan (left), and Secretary to the Mayor Edward Joseph Cuansing during the program marking the 10th year of the Bacolod City Government Center on Wednesday afternoon. (Photo by Nanette L. Guadalquiver)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BACOLOD CITY<\/strong>\u00a0— Mayor Evelio Leonardia awarded the first-ever Bacolod Halandumon Award to the heirs of Don Fernando and Do\u00f1a Angela Gonzaga, who donated the property occupied by the Bacolod City Government Center that marked its 10th year on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Leonardia, who led the celebration dubbed \u201c10 years of Fame and Glory\u201d held at the Government Center\u2019s MassKara Hall, said the structure has become \u201ciconic\u201d and has changed the face of Bacolod.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe this generation and the future generations should take good care of it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The construction of the PHP394-million three-story building on the five-hectare lot began in 2006, and was completed on Aug. 8, 2008. It is situated in the eastern side of the city along the Circumferential Road in Barangay Villamonte.<\/p>\n

In his message, Leonardia looked back at the three reasons why he decided to embark on the construction of the edifice when he became mayor for the second time in 2004.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to serve the general public, we wanted a workplace conducive for our government workers, and we believe this will inspire investors\u2019 confidence (in Bacolod),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Leonardia added that the city government has more than achieved the first purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have served thousands upon thousands of people here. When we talk about the convenience brought by the Government Center, may I remind the department heads and employees, I cannot imagine anymore our situation if (we) remained at the old City Hall,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The mayor said he was touched by the view of the park he sees from the balcony of the third floor, where the Mayor\u2019s Office is located.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest joy I get is when I see families enjoying (themselves) in that park. Simple joys of life, you can see it in their faces,\u201d he said. \u201cBased on that, the Government Center has achieved something because it has given happiness to our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonardia added it was around the time the Government Center was built that the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry recognized Bacolod as the \u201cMost Business-Friendly City\u201d in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that because of the Government Center, the growth of Bacolod City accelerated,\u201d he added.
\nMa. Regina Tanpinco Piccio, who gave a response on behalf of the Gonzaga family, congratulated Leonardia for his efforts in making the Bacolod City Government Center a reality, and shared their family\u2019s commitment to help in the development of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople ask why we donated this chunk of prime land when we can easily sell it for hundreds of millions. True, it\u2019s very true. This is because we are from Bacolod, we believe in Bacolod, and we want to do our share in making Bacolod grow. This is our city,\u201d Piccio said.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BACOLOD CITY\u00a0— Mayor Evelio Leonardia awarded the first-ever Bacolod Halandumon Award to the heirs of Don Fernando and Do\u00f1a Angela …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":175840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel","mauthors-nanette-guadalquiver","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}