NAGA CITY -- Based on a presidential proclamation of former President Benigno Aquino III issued in 2013, Naga Mayor John Bongat has declared September 15, Friday, a special non-working holiday in this city.
Bongat cited Presidential Proclamation No. 654, series of 2013 that declared every Friday immediately preceding the Feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia as a special non-working holiday in the City of Naga.
“Considering that the Feast of Our Lady falls this year on Sept. 17, Sunday, the public is advised that September 15, the Friday immediately preceding the Feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, is the special (non-working) day in the City of Naga being referred to under (Presidential Proclamation No. 654)," he declared in an advisory issued on Tuesday, September 12.
The civic-military activity will be conducted on Friday, the last non-religious event before the culmination of the religious fiesta in a fluvial procession at the Naga River.
According to Allen Reondanga, head of the City Events, Protocol and Public Information Office, a military parade competition will be held to be participated in by 697 groups.
Compared to last year when there were 646 participants, this 2017, there is an increase of 51 groups competing in the military parade.
Reondanga said the military parade competition will be held starting at 7 a.m. and last until late in the afternoon, given the huge number of participants.
He said for the military units in high school level, there were 308 participants; military units in college level, 14 participants; majorettes in high school and college levels, 142; drum and bugle corps/drum and lyre corps in high school and college levels, 130; and high school and college bands, 14.
Reondanga said joining the “exhibition style” for majorettes are 38 groups; drum and bugle corps/drum and lyre corps, 29; band, 9; and CAT fancy drill, 13.
The Feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia was given formal recognition by the national government during the administration of President Aquino with the declaration of Naga City and Camarines Sur as “Pilgrimage Capital of Bicol.”
Aquino issued Executive Order No. 33 in 2010 that officially declared the Feast of the Our Lady of Peñafrancia as the “only regional feast in the country” at the time when it was celebrating its 300th year of existence.
Executive Order No. 33 draws from Section 15, Article 14 of the 1987 Constitution, which declares that the “State shall conserve, promote, and popularize the nation’s historical and cultural heritage.”
“Beginning every September of every year until mid-October, the City of Naga and the Province of Camarines Sur welcome millions of pilgrims from different parts of the country and the world who participate in the celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Penafrancia,” the executive order added. (Juan Escandor Jr./PNA)
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