CANDABA – Several Kapampangan here deemed to have forgotten the real essence of the Independence Day celebration after failing to cite reason for having holiday yesterday.
 
In a random interview by Sun Star Pampanga, it showed that three out of ten Kapampangan few of them are students do not the reason why the country is celebrating Independence Day every June 12.
 
Asked about the occasion, “ Holiday po natin ngayon. Ano yata,  araw ng mga bayani. Yung mga nakipaglaban para sa bansa. Tama po ba?,” Efren Moriel, 36,  one of the residents here said.
 
Various elected officials from the national and local level spearheaded the commemoration of the 115th year of independence of the country from Spanish colonial rule.
 
“Nakalimutan kuna yan basta Masaya kami walang pasok, may oras para sa pamilya. Absent yata ako ng ituro ng teacher yan,” Pablo Domingo, 27, also a resident here stated.
 
Independence was proclaimed on June 12, 1898 in Cavite at the ancestral home of General Emilio Aguinaldo.
 
The Act of the Declaration of Independence was written and read by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista in Spanish.
 
The same was signed by ninety-eight people, among them an American army officer who witnessed the proclamation.
 
“Ipinagdiriwang po natin ang pagiging Malaya ng mga Pilipino mula sa dayuhang mananakop. Natamo natin ito sa tulong ng mga bayaning Pilipino na nagbuwis ng buhay para sa ating kasarinlan,” Jesabel Delos Santos, a 4th year student here explained.