PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 17, 2013) – President Benigno Aquino has declared September 18 as a special non-working day in Zamboanga del Sur province in southern Philippines which will celebrate its 61st Foundation Day.
The declaration through Proclamation Number 642 was signed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr. on August 22 “to give the people of Zamboanga del Sur the full opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies.”
Zamboanga province, which encompassed the entire peninsula in the southwestern Mindanao, was divided into Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur by virtue of Republic Act No. 711 in 1952.
Zamboanga del Sur became the 52nd province in the Philippines and Pagadian City was named its capital. A third province in the Western Mindanao peninsula, Zamboanga Sibugay, was created in 2001.
Pagadian City is the capital of Zamboanga del Sur. (With a report from Richard Suarez)
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