This is not the first time that the Independence Day celebration in Bacolod City was given a budget of P1 million since this has been included in the annual budget of the city even in previous years, Bacolod Councilor Homer Bais yesterday said.

He said not a single centavo had been released yet as of yesterday, contrary to reports.

Bais said the P1 million budget will be broken down into P76,000, which will be given directly to the Department of Education as financial assistance; P112,000 for the police; while the rest of the budget will go to publicity and promotion, parade, reception and protocol, program, construction of the reviewing stand, secretariat, invitations, T-shirts, meals and maintenance, and other operating expenses.

The celebration started on April 28 and will end June 12, he said.

They will provide the Commission on Audit their liquidation report, he said, adding that everything they do is transparent.

Bais said their guest speaker for the 111th Independence Day celebration is Assistant Secretary Maria Lorelei Fajardo, deputy spokesman for Central Luzon.

He said the Independence Day celebration will start with the flag raising, wreath-laying and program in the morning of June 12, while the parade will be held at 2 p.m. starting from the Bacolod Public Plaza to the new government center.

The human flag will start from Burgos-Hilado streets, he added.

Bais said they were advised by the Department of Interior and Local Government to celebrate the Independence Day with significance so they decided to form a human flag.*CGS

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