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Bacolod City, PhilippinesMonday, February 20, 2012
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Editorial

A blessed day
of remembrance

Daily Star logo
Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.
NINFA R. LEONARDIA
Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ
Editor

GUILLERMO TEJIDA III
Desk Editor
PATRICK PANGILINAN
Busines Editor

NIDA A. BUENAFE

Sports Editor
RENE GENOVE
Bureau Chief, Dumaguete
MAJA P. DELY
Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA
Administrative Officer

Both the Diocese and the City of Bacolod will commemorate today a very significant day in the history of the entire province of Negros Occidental. Today, February 20, 2012, marks the 31st year after the historic visit of the late beloved Pontiff of the Church, Pope John Paul II. It was only a one-day stay in this city, and the Holy Father only delivered one speech at the special template built for him at the reclaimed area of Bacolod, but his words have reverberated in the island all these years.

It was no easy task to convince the Vatican that there was a strong need for the Holy Father to include Negros Occidental and Bacolod in his itinerary in the Philippines. That was the time when the expression “social volcano” was coined to describe the situation in the province where the insurgency was rearing its ugly head, prodded on by the inequality being felt in the sugar industry, where the rebel elements were feeding the discontent of workers with promises of a better life by joining their ranks.

Thanks to the persistence of the late Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich, it was finally achieved. The Pope would fly to Bacolod on February 20, 1981 and address the faithful from the salakot-inspired template specially constructed for the occasion.

Not only Bacoleños and Negrenses gathered to see, to listen, and be blessed by the Holy Father. Thousands from other provinces and cities also traveled to Bacolod to be able to see personally the very popular and saintly head of the Church, the first ever to come to the city, and, for most of them, the first Pontiff they had seen in the flesh.

Today, therefore, is a day that will always stand out in the history of the city, and more so because of so many institutions and landmarks that visit has left to perpetuate its memory.*

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