JTF Gensan hosts wreath-laying ceremony at Plaza Heneral Santos

From the Philippine Information Agency (Aug 29): JTF Gensan hosts wreath-laying ceremony at Plaza Heneral Santos

The Joint Task Force (JTF) Gensan will host the Wreath-Laying Ceremony in commemoration of Gen. Paulino Santos’ 70th death anniversary on Saturday, August 29 at Plaza Heneral Santos here.

JTF Gensan chief Col. Paterno Reynato Padua said the activity kicks off at 7:00 o’clock in the morning with a sky diving exhibition from Philippine Army Sky Diving Team carrying the Philippine Flag from an altitude of 5,000 feet above sea level.

City Mayor Ronnel Rivera is also expected to attend the event as guest of honor. He is to lead the wreath offering, according to JTF GenSan.

General Santos was an Army general who also served as administrator of the National Land Settlement Administration (NLSA) during the time of President Manuel L. Quezon.

As an NLSA chief, he brought with him the first batch of settlers from Luzon and Visayas to South Cotabato, where they cultivated vast track of barren agricultural lands into highly productive farming areas.

According to local historians, he also founded the municipalities of Banga, Tampakan, Koronadal, Tupi, Polomolok, and Buayan (also known as Dadiangas) as the then settelements of migrants in South Cotabato.

For his legacy, the officialdom of Buayan renamed their municipality to General Santos "in June 1954" by virtue of "Republic Act No. 1107."

Years later, the late Sarangani Representative James L. Chiongbian authored a bill upgrading the municipality into a city, paving the way to Republic Act No. 5412 otherwise known as “An Act Creating the City of General Santos” or the “Charter of the City of General Santos” which was approved on June 15,1968.

Currently, General Santos’ monument stands at Plaza Heneral Santos in front of the City Hall. It was unveiled on “September 5, 1981.”

Other invited wreath-layers for Saturday’s commemoration of Santos’ death anniversary include South Cotabato 1st District Representative Pedro Acharon Jr., Vice Mayor Shirlyn Bañas-Nograles, General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO) chief PSupt. Maximo Layugan, and the pioneers/descendants and surviving relatives of General Santos.

Maj. Datu Hasbi Jamalul, JTF Gensan’s civil military operations officer also invites the people here to witness the wreath-laying, saying it “is open to public as it is part of the attraction of this year’s 47th Charter Anniversary and the 17th Tuna Festival” which will have a grand opening on September 1.

http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1671440741392/jtf-gensan-hosts-wreath-laying-ceremony-at-plaza-heneral-santos