Headlines Mt. Pinatubo confusion resolved No work only in gov’t offices, no classes today in Pampanga, but usual day in Angeles City

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – This entire province will mark today (June 15) the 21ST anniversary of Mt. Pinatubo’s “big bang,” but confusion has arisen on whether it’s a non-working, no-classes commemoration.

Vice Gov. Joseller “Yeng” Guiao, who is acting Pampanga governor, clarified yesterday that he issued last June 13 Executive Order (EO) 08-2010 declaring June 15 as a non-working holiday only for government offices and no-classes in both public and private schools in the province.

“The private sector offices are not covered since last year, businessmen were against a non-working holiday,” Guiao told Punto. He has been acting governor since last week, as Gov. Lilia Pineda is on vacation in the US.

But in Angeles City, a chartered city outside the administrative jurisdiction of the provincial government, Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan said he withdrew a city ordinance that initially declared every June 15 as a special non-working holiday to commemorate “heroic lessons learned from the eruption of Mt.Pinatubo.”

“The cancellation of Ordinance 688-12 was prompted by the absence of a Presidential Proclamation or an Act of Congress, which by law, are the only basis for the declaration of special non-working holidays both in national and local application,” said Pamintuan who is a lawyer.

Guiao said, however, that he had consulted with the lawyers of the provincial government about the non-working and no-classes status of his order and that they assured him that he had powers to issue the EO.

The official status today: no work in government offices and no classes at all public and private schools throughout Pampanga, while in Angeles City, all work and classes will go on as usual.

In his EO, Guiao noted that “the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in June 1991, is considered to be the worst disaster to hit the province of Pampanga in living memory.”

Yet, he noted that “21 years after the catastrophe, Pampanga has evidently recovered from the devastation, and is now enjoying exemplary growth and development.”

“Pampanga’s rise after the said calamity is a testament to its people’s resiliency, determination in the face of overwhelming adversities and unity,” he noted.

Mt. Pinatubo erupted during the term of Guiao’s father, the late Gov. Bren Guiao who also pushed for the construction of the so-called megadike at the Pasig-Potrero river that was a major channel of volcanic flows from Mt. Pinatubo.

The megadike saved the capital town of San Fernando and other areas from being buried by volcanic debris.
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