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````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````OPTION 1

Time-tested structures are icons of a great leader’s canticle of service

to his people

A city government structure attuned with the times and worth owrth worth
every Bacoleno’s dignity as a peopleWhen Atty. Evelio R. Leonardia got elected as
mayor of Bacolod in l995, he already wanted to put into reality what he had long
dreamed of when he started public service and that was to see Bacolod with a
government hall reflective of her image as a fast growing city. Then in 2004 when
he again assumed as mayor, he worked on his long-time dream. With full
administrative and legislative support, plans for a new government center were
laid out. Search for a possible site began.city and people’s hall Elected as mayor
of the City of Bacolod in l995, Atty. Evelio Evelio R. Leonardia wanted to
concretize what he had long dreamt of when he started even as he was still sethe
city ven as Assuming the mayorship of the City of bacolodWhen Atty. Evelio R.
Leonardia got elected as mayor of Bacolod in l995, he already wanted to put into
reality what he had long dreamed of when he started public service and that was
to see Bacolod with a government hall reflective of her image as a fast growing
city. Then in 2004 when he again assumed as mayor, he worked on his long-time
dream. With full administrative and legislative support, plans for a new
government center were laid out. Search for a possible site began.

This building evolved from the Municipio or town hall (c.l889) located at the
corner of what is now Araneta and Gonzaga Streets. Historical notes say that
construction of the Municipio was initiated by the Recollect Father Mauricio
Ferrero in consonance with the general structure of towns at that time where the
church, the convent and the plaza were within one area.

On the next block, at the junction of the present Araneta Street and Luzuriaga
Streets, the provincial government held office at the TRIBUNAL , the former
house of Don Jose Ruiz de Luzuriaga who donated it to the provincial
government. One of the historic events that took place in there while it was still
the Luzuriaga residence was the signing of the capitulation of the Spanish forces
to the Negros Revolutinary Forces under General Aniceto Lacson and General
Juan ARaneta On Novemver 5,1898, now a provincial holiday known as the Cinco
de Noviembre.

When the present Provincial Capitol was inaugurated in l932, the then
Bacolod municipal president, Felipe Arroyo, convened a committee composed of
Luis Tonggoy, chairman, Fernando Cuadra and Tomas Garrucho, all Consejalesof
Bacolod (c. l932) to study the exchange of property between the municipal-
owned MUNICIPIO AND THE province-owned TRIBUNAL. Bacolod had to pay an
additional sum of P5, 000.00 owing to the fact that the Municipio property was
only valued at P20, 000.00 whole that of the Tribunal was P32,520.00 per
approval of

Resolution NO. 33, series of l932. The Deed Of Exchange dated January 23, 1933
effected the change from the Tribunal to the Municipio. In the same year,

Bacolod paid the insurance of P22,000.00, as shown in the minutes of the session
of the municipal council on June 27, l933.

Chartered as a city on June 18, l938 and inaugurated on October 19, 1938,
Bacolod witnessed the induction into office of the Hon. Alfredo Montelibano Sr.
as the first city mayor whose administration spent no less than P38,000.00 for the
renovation of the Luzuriaga building turned Tribunal then to Municipio then as
city hall of the new city.

After 1938, the Luzuriaga house still served as seat of the city government and
as host to many significant events in the city, including changes in city
leadership. As new developments unfolded, time took its toll on the wooden
building now decrepit and an anathema to the new structures around it.
 In 1968, during the administration of Mayor Romeo Guanzon (?) a new L-
shaped 3-storey city hall, by virtue of City Ordinance No. Series of , was
being constructed on a 300 meter lot from out of the of the 2,37l square meter
lot of the former Luzuriaga property and old city hall.

The city hall continued to serve the public through various administrations
along with the continued increase n the number of offices and employees to
answer the service demands of a fast-growing city especially when Bacolod was
declared a highly urbanized city in l986.

When Atty. Evelio R. Leonardia got elected as mayor of Bacolod in l995, he

already wanted to put into reality what he had long dreamed of when he started
public service and that was to see Bacolod with a government hall reflective of
her image as a fast growing city. Then in 2004 when he again assumed as mayor,
he worked on his long-time dream. With full administrative and legislative
support, plans for a new government center were laid out. Search for a possible
site began.

It did not take long for the city to look for a site as philanthropy is easy to come
by from Constituents who trust in an honest and dedicated public service. The
Heirs of Fernando F. Fernando F. Gonzaga, Inc. and Angela Estate, Inc. offered a 5-
hectare lot on a prime lot along the city’s circumferential road in Barangay
Villamonte. Through City Council Resolutin No. , Mayor Leonardia got the
Sangguniang Panlungsod approval to accept the donation. Per Sangguniang
Panlungsod Resolution No. dated Mayor Evelio signed the Deed of
Donation on. Ground breaking was held on December 28, 2006 and construction
started right away.

Pictures of the municipio and the TRibunal

History of the construction, Resolutions, Names of Councilors
Physical Data of the NGC
Acknowledgment of historical facts – Mode Sa-onoy, Thesis of Ma.
Angeles Justiniani, Bacolod Yearbook l938-l939