July 1 2017 declared holiday in Davao provinces
Four provinces in Region XI or Davao Region will be celebrating their 50th foundation anniversary this July 1, Saturday.
The day is a public holiday in the provinces of Davao Occidental, Davao Oriental, Davao del Norte, and Davao del Sur by virtue of Republic Act (RA) 6380. The law came into effect in 1971, during the administration of then-President Ferdinand Marcos. Read the full text of RA 6380 in this link.
There used to be a single Davao province from 1914 to 1967. This eventually was separated into three provinces by virtue of RA 4867. This law now serves as the provincial charter for all those provinces, which are located at the southernmost part of the Philippines.
The law also designated Tagum, Digos, and Mati as the capitals of Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental, respectively. These three erstwhile municipalities have all achieved city over the decades.
Davao Occidental, for its part, was created just last 2013 through RA 10360, making it the newest province in the country and the fifth province under Region XI the other one being Compostela Valley. The citizens of the province was able to choose their first set of elected officials during the 2016 national and local elections.
As expected, one of the highlights of this year’s Davao Region foundation anniversary is the Kadagayaan Festival in Davao del Norte. Please refer to this article from Sun.Star Davao for the complete list of activities in connection to the regional holiday.
(PS: Davao City is not included in this holiday announcement because of its status as a highly-urbanized city administratively separate from Davao del Sur.)
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