The Office of the President, through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, has released Proclamation No. 233 Declaring Thursday, June15, 2017 as a Special Non-Working Holiday in the City of Angeles.
President Rodrigo Duterte, through the Order, said Angeles City has requested June 15 be declared as a special (non-working) day in remembrance of the ruinous volcanic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo which transpired 26 years ago.
The declaration, according to Duterte, is to render appropriate tribute to those who perished, as well as to those who survived, and to those who helped in the relocation, rehabilitation and recovery of Pinatubo-affected families.
The Order also stated, “… it is but fitting and proper that the people of the City of Angeles, be given full opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies.”
The Pampanga Capitol had also suspended government work and schools on June 15 in the province, to provide time for people to reflect on the disastrous part of Pampanga’s history and how Mt. Pinatubo had changed the province’s landscape and shaped its fortunes through the lahar deposits that it now benefits from through its quarry operations.
On June 15, 1991, the second-largest volcanic eruption in the 2oth Century occurred at Mt. Pinatubo in Zambales and caused massive destruction in the provinces of Zambales, Pampanga, Bataan, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.