BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued Executive Order No. 6 conferring upon singer-songwriter and businessman Jose Mari Chan, an adopted son of Bacolod City, the distinction of being the honorary mayor during the celebration of the Chinese New Year.
Chan was named adopted son of Bacolod by virtue of Resolution No. 81, Series of 2018, passed and unanimously approved by the City Council on January 24.
Leonardia signed the executive order on January 29.
On February 15 to 18, Bacolod will join the entire nation in celebrating the Chinese New Year and welcoming the Year of the Dog.
He said Chan is a Bacolod resident who has sustained and kept alive the sugar industry in the Province of Negros Occidental amid the hardships and challenges time when the industry was in peril.
“Due to his sustaining effort in engaging and supporting the sugar industry in the province, Bacolod as the capital city also benefitted from the industry,” the mayor added.
Chan is also a known recording artist, singer and songwriter, who is unprecedented in the local recording history, being the biggest selling recording artist in the history of Philippine pop music, with more than 43 platinum sales.
As an artist of his caliber, he has performed in major cities all over the Philippines and was awarded in 1974 as among the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines.
Leonardia said the City of Bacolod and its constituents gratefully acknowledge Chan as an artist who has brought music as an art level to its highest level.
Bacolod also recognizes Chan as a businessman who has contributed to the economic well-being of Bacolod and Negros Occidental due to his engagement in the sugar industry.
In previous years, the City Government also declared the four Filipino-Chinese businessmen – Lucio Tan, John Gokongwei Jr., Henry Sy, and Eduardo Cuangco Jr. as adopted sons of Bacolod.
