BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance institutionalizing a Session Road History and Heritage Festival in the city, appropriating funds and for other purposes.
The ordinance authored by Vice Mayor Faustino A. Olowan and Councilor Elaine D. Sembrano stated the Session Road History and Heritage festival in the city will be institutionalized starting every 3rd Saturday of April until the 2nd Sunday of June.
The ordinance stipulates among the established activities for the annual event include the walk-free along Session road, educational history of Session Road, culture and arts events, and other activities to be determined by the working committee once convened.
The ordinance mandated the City Mayor, through an executive order, to constitute a working committee composed of the local chief executive as chairperson, and to be co-chaired by the Vice Mayor with the City Administrator as action officer. The members of the committee shall be the chairperson of the City Council Committee on Tourism, Special Events, Parks and Playgrounds; chairperson of the City Council Committee on Education, Culture and Historical Research; president of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) federation; Supervising Tourism Operations Officer; City Public Information Officer, representative from the Cordillera office of the Department of Tourism (DOT-CAR); representatives from the restaurants and businesses along Session road; representative from the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO); representative from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP); representative from the Emergency Medical Service (EMS), and other members as may be deemed necessary once convened by the City Mayor.
The ordinance states that the working committee shall formulate other activities or events necessary to highlight the desired celebration; prepare the rules and regulations in relation to the bringing out of stalls by restaurants and fastfood establishments along Session road; coordinate with the concerned departments and offices and business along Session road for the successful implementation of the celebration; identify the strategic areas where the culture and arts events would be conducted; ensure the smooth flow of traffic during the closure of Session road every Sunday during the event; ensure that accounting and auditing rules are complied with, especially in the use of the funds; after the celebration, prepare a report to include the problems encountered, if any, so as to address the same and improve the succeeding celebrations and perform other duties and functions as may be assigned by the City mayor on the celebration.
The ordinance tasks the working committee as created shall prepare the implementing rules and regulations of the proposed measure and other necessary guidelines for the successful implementation of the festival.
Under the proposal, the amount of P500,000 or so much thereof, shall be allocated annually in the budget of the City Administrator’s Office for the purpose and shall be used pursuant to accounting and auditing rules and regulations and that the local finance committee shall issue the necessary certificate of availability of funds for the said purpose.
Session Road was named from the fact that it leads to the location of the old Baden Powell along Gov. Pack Road where the Philippine Commission held its first session in the city.
By Dexter A. See