JUNE 30 IS PHILIPPINE-SPANISH FRIENDSHIP DAY

June 30 has been declared Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day. Inaugural events will be held in June, with historical exhibits, round-table discussions, seminars, and book launching, climaxing in colorful rites at Baler, Aurora and Madrid, Spain. It will be a national special working holiday throughout the Philippines and a special non-working holiday in Aurora Province.
The celebration will highlight cultural and historical ties, friendship and cooperation between the Philippines and Spain. It will commemorate the day, June 30, 1899, when President Emilio Aguinaldo issued a decree which recognized and commended the valor and determination of Spanish soldiers who held out in Baler and finally surrendered to Filipino troops more than a year after the declaration of Philippine Independence. In an act of benevolence, President Aguinaldo declared the Spanish soldiers not as enemies but friends and assured them of a safe return to Spain. He ordered Filipino troops to respect the persons and properties of the surrendering Spaniards.

           The “Siege of Baler,” as the event was called later, will be re-enacted on June 30 in Baler. There will also be a reunion of the descendants of the Spanish soldiers and the Katipuneros. Ceremonies will be graced by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople, Sen. Edgardo J. Angara, Spanish Ambassador Ignacio Sagaz and dignitaries from Spain, including descendants of the Spanish soldiers.
R.A. 9187, the law declaring June 30 as Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day, was enacted last February this year. Its principal sponsor was Angara. In Madrid, festivities will include an art exhibit, poetry reading, musical and dance performances, and other activities reflecting our socio-cultural and economic ties.

           The Spanish Embassy in Manila is also hosting various cultural events and the Philippine-Spanish Business Council will undertake a domestic-tourism-related seminar.

           The Department of Tourism has drawn up plans and programs to develop Baler as a local tourist-destination spot. A package “On-the-Road-to-Baler” will soon be offered, which will include visits to historical sites in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija.
Ople as Secretary of Foreign Affairs heads the inter-agency committee planning for the celebration. Co-chairmen are Executive Director Ludovico Badoy of the National Historical Institute (NHI) and Mayor Emilio Etcubañez of Baler. Other members of the committee are the Department of Tourism, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, UP Diliman Department of History, and the Department of Education. The Philippine Ambassador to Spain and the Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines are ex-officio members. The NHI serves as Secretariat to implement R.A. 9187.