by Blessie Ayalde

At 7am on June 12, the Los Baños municipal employees and representatives of various sectors in the municipality gathered at the Los Baños Municipal Hall to kickstart the commemoration of the country’s 119th Independence Day.

Representatives from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Department of Education (DepEd), Los Baños National High School (LBNHS) headed by Principal Nelson Umali, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), municipal officials and staff, officials of the 14 barangays, and citizens of Los Baños.

The entrance of colors from the Los Baños PNP marked the start of the morning program.

An opening speech was given by Vice-Mayor Copie Alipon. Vice-Mayor Alipon emphasized the importance of freedom in a country, how freedom is not absolute and that we should always take care and fight for our freedom. “Without freedom, we would lose our nation’s identity. Our country needs freedom and also the united support of each and every Filipino.

Mackie Cao, a participant from The Voice Season 2a and a resident of Los Baños performed a couple of songs for the crowd.

The Los Baños Municipal Brass Band, which was comprised by different youth scholars, also performed in the program.

Mayor Caesar E. Perez in his closing speech emphasized that the Independence Day celebration is a sacred event that should not be taken lightly because it celebrates the day that we obtained our freedom from our colonizers. The mayor also reminded the Los Baños residents to take care of our independence and not abuse it. Mayor Perez explained that this can be done by following simple rules like crossing the street and segregating garbage in the proper manner.

After the program, traditional snacks like maruya and steamed bananas were distributed for the crowd for merienda.