Councilor Atty. Jay S.

Albarece
Sangguniang Bayan of Manolo Fortich
Province of Bukidnon

Honorable Vice-Mayor Reynaldo L. Bagayas, Jr., my esteemed colleagues,

staff and personnel of this Sangguniang Bayan, friends, ladies and gentlemen inside
this hall, good morning. I stand by reason of personal and collective privilege.

But before I proceed, allow me to congratulate the Local Government Unit

of Manolo Fortich, headed by the Honorable Mayor Rogelio N. Quino, for giving the
people of Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon another successful Banog Banog Festival, and to
commend our colleague, the lady from Dicklum, the Hon. Rina Quino, for her efforts,
beyond the call of duty, as well as everyone who, in one way or another, contributed
to the festival’s success.

During the opening of the festival last April 4, 2023, we commemorated the
106th Foundation of our beloved municipality. As we all know, prior to 2011, the
town has been celebrating its charter or foundation day, not on April 4, as we do now,
but every June 21st pursuant to Republic Act No. 1720, otherwise known as An Act
Changing the Name of the Municipality of Maluko, Province of Bukidnon, to the
Municipality of Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon. Said law was enacted on June 21, 1957;
thus, for more than half a century, we celebrated our charter every June 21.

Then, suddenly somebody said, “Time sa, basaha gani nang RA 1720,” and
everybody said, “lagi ba.” So on December 9, 2011, gikan pa namista sa petsa 8,
hang-over and all, this Sanguniang Bayan passed Ordinance No. 2010-792 entitled:
An Ordinance Declaring the 4th day of April of Every Year as the Municipal Charter
Day. So the town’s foundation was moved to April 4th, and last month, we celebrated
our 106th Founding Anniversary. Supporting the ordinance are 1) Provincial Board
Resolution No. 98, Series of 1916, 2) Provincial Board Resolution No. 4, Series of
1917, and, finally, 3) Executive Order No. 5, dated April 4, 1917, issued by no less
than Frank W. Carpenter, Governor of the then Department of Mindanao and Sulu.

But there is but one problem, and a huge one at that: the National Historical
Commission of the Philippines doesn’t find April 4 a good day to celebrate the town’s
foundation because, according to the Historical Commission, there is no evidence of
the supposed foundation day. This explains why the Office of the President never
declares April 4 as a non-working holiday in our town despite our repeated requests.

The Historical Commission could not find Governor Frank W. Carpenter’s

Executive Order No. 5. We in the LGU of Manolo Fortich do not have a copy of the
Executive Order. Weird, but even the Archives of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of
the Province of Bukidnon has no record of the executive order or the Provincial Board
Resolution No. 98, Series of 1916, and Provincial Board Resolution No. 4, Series of
1917. Even if we do our research online, there is no copy, reproduction, or an excerpt
of the elusive Executive Order No. 5, in any book, in any library, anywhere in the
world. Unbelievable. Mysterious.
 I am honored to have visited the National Library of the Philippines to do
my own historical detective work back in March this year. I am thankful to Mr.
Timoteo Trias, Jr., a Library Aide of the Office of the President Action Center
assigned at the microfilm section at the 2nd Floor, Right Wing, for his kind assistance
in my search. For a while, we thought we got Governor Carpenter’s Executive Order
No. 5. I was busy doing my thing in one microfilm machine when he called me out
because he found an issue of the Official Gazette containing Executive Order No. 5,
Series of 1917. He showed it to me with a warning, “May Executive Order No. 5,
1917, pero Espanol pa po ito.” I said, “okay lang po,” although what I wanted to say
was: Comprendo poco Espanol y tengo telefono. Hay google translate en mi telefono.
No problemo.”

Dear colleagues, the only Executive Order No. 5, Series of 1917, that can be
found in the National Library is this:

A few years ago, the LGU of Manolo Fortich sent a team to the National
Library to look for the elusive Executive Order No. 5. The team was headed by our
colleague Senior Councillor and former Vice Mayor Miguel Demata, with former SB
Secretary Lydia Lastimosa, MENRO Sharon Tacbobo, and others as members. They
also scoured the National Library and they collated, reproduced historical resources,
and rendered a report that is certainly worth looking into. I have gone over the team’s
report, and we can actually draw six interesting conclusions from it:

1. Bukidnon became a province by virtue of Act No. 2408, also known

as the Organic Law of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu. The
law was enacted by the Philippine Commission on July 24, 1914, and
took effect on September 01, 1914.

2. Act No. 2408 authorizes the department governor to organize

municipal district governments and exercise jurisdiction over them
through the provincial governors.

3. Existing villages in the Province of Bukidnon were first organized

into municipal districts through Executive Order No. 10 issued by
Gov. Frank Carpenter on August 15, 1914, citing as a source the
1985 book of Mardonio M. Lao, Bukidnon In Historical Perspective.

4. The first municipal districts of Bukidnon, per Executive Order No. 10,
were Baungon, Claveria, Gimbaluron, Impasugong, Libona, Lourdes,
Malaybalay, Malitbog, Maramag, Napaliran, Sumilao, Lumbia,
Talakag, and Maluco, citing Lao as a source.

5. The first barrios of the Municipal District of Maluco, in 1917, were

Maluco, Dalirig, Minsuro, Tankulan, Sancanan, Lindaban,
Kalugmanan, and Mambatangan, also citing the book of Lao.
 6. Per Act 2711, also known as the Administrative Code, which was
enacted on March 10, 1917, by the Philippine Legislature, the
Province of Bukidnon is composed of the municipalities of Impasug-
ong, Malaybalay (the capital of the province), Maluco, and Talakag,
and the following municipal districts: Baungon, Claveria,
Guimbaluron, Kibawe, Libona, Lourdes, Malitbog, Maramag,
Napaliran, Pangantucan, and Sumilao.

Among the six conclusions that can be drawn from the report, I find the
sixth and last as the most crucial. Ladies and gentlemen, the team did not find
Governor Frank Carpenter’s Executive Order No. 5. But what the team found was
actually the very charter or the law that created the then Municipality of Maluco,
Province of Bukidnon. They just did not realize it. They found the law; they even
quoted the law in their report. I am referring to Act 2711 quoted at the last page of the
report.

Please allow me to elaborate. Per the Team’s report, citing Lao as a source,
the existing villages in the Province of Bukidnon were organized into municipal
districts through Executive Order No. 10 issued by Gov. Frank Carpenter on August
15, 1914, and the first batch of municipal districts were Baungon, Claveria,
Gimbaluron, Impasugong, Libona, Lourdes, Malaybalay, Malitbog, Maramag,
Napaliran, Sumilao, Lumbia, Talakag, and our very own Maluko.

Now, from being just a municipal district in December 1914, our town, then
called Maluko, was referred to as a full-fledged municipality in Act 2711, which was
enacted on March 10, 1917.

Section 40 of Act 2711 states that, and I quote:

"The Province of Bukidnon consists of the territory in the

northern part of the Island of Mindanao between the Province of Agusan,
to the east, and the Provinces of Oriental Misamis and Lanao to the west,
with Cotabato to the south, and comprises the following municipalities:

Impasugong, Malaybalay (the capital of the province), Maluko,

and Talakag.

The province also contains the following municipal districts:

Baungon, [Claveria], [Guimbaluron], Kibawe, Libona, [Lourdes],
Malitbog, Maramag, [Napaliran], Pangantucan, and Sumilao."

To emphasize, it states: “comprises the following municipalities:

Impasugong, Malaybalay (the capital of the province), Maluko, and Talakag.”
Interestingly, thus, by March 10, 1917, 25 days before Governor General Frank
Carpenters issued the supposed Executive Order No. 5 on April 4, 1917, the
Philippine Legislature referred to Maluko as a municipality.

You might be asking, could it be possible that Maluko was already a

municipality even before March 10, 1917. Possible, but not likely, in my own opinion.
Why? Because in page 35 of the 1916 Report of the Governor General of the
Philippine Islands to the Secretary of War (covering the period January 1, 1916, to
December 31, 1916), the Province of Bukidnon only has one municipality in
Malaybalay and 16 municipal districts, including Maluko and Tankulan.

Let me now go back to Act No. 2711, or an Act Amending the

Administrative Code of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu. Ladies and Gentlemen,
on behalf of those who have come before and did research in libraries to find old
books, laws, articles, and other resources, both real and online, I am honored to
propose that we now consider Act No. 2711 as the very law that created the
Municipality of Maluko, now Manolo Fortich, subject to the confirmation of the
National Historical Commission of the Philippines. I am also proposing that we
commemorate the charter day or founding day of the town every October 1 of every
year.

Why on October 1 and not on March 10? Because Act No. 2711 was
enacted on March 10, 1917, and became effective only on October 1, 1917. Much like
how we mark the Charter day of the Province of Bukidnon, which became a full-
fledged province by virtue of Act No. 2408, also known as the Organic Law of the
Department of Mindanao and Sulu. The law was enacted by the Philippine
Commission on July 24, 1914, and took effect on September 01, 1914. We celebrate
our charter day on September, when the law became effective, and not on July 24,
when it was enacted.

Let me end this by further proposing, in case the NCIP confirms October 1,
1917, as our founding day, that we commemorate it with a simple flag ceremony to be
followed by a historical symposium, which the LGU can co-host with the History
Department of our very own Northern Bukidnon State College. In that symposium,
we can invite experts from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, the
academe, as well as representatives from our indigenous peoples, to share about our
beginnings, culture, traditions, stories, as a village, as a town, as a municipality, and
as a people.

Honorable presiding chair, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you and
good morning.

May I move that the transcript of the privilege speech be confined to the
archives of this Sangguniang Bayan for reference, and a copy thereof, forwarded to
the history department of the NBSC, through the College President, to inspire their
interest in research on the topic, as well as the National Historical Commission, with
reference to our earlier SB Resolution No. 2023-114, entitled A Resolution
Requesting the National Historical Commission of the Philippines to Research the
Exact Date of Foundation of the Municipality of Manolo Fortich, formerly known as
the Municipality of Maluko, Province of Bukidnon.