Bacolod City Charter Day in the Philippines Date in the current year: June 18, 2024

Bacolod is a first-class highly urbanized city in the Philippine region of Western Visayas on the island of Negros. The provincial capital of Negros Occidental, it is grouped with the province for statistical purposes, but governed independently. Bacolod is the second most populous city in Visayas and the most populous in Western Visayas.

The name of the city derives from the Old Hiligaynon word bakólod, which means any small eminence or elevation like a mound or a hill, since the settlement was founded in a hilly area. The predecessor to the modern city of Bacolod was a small coastal settlement called Magsungay near Bago. Spanish missionaries arrived in the region and renamed the settlement San Sebastián de Magsung̃ay sometime in the first half of the 18th century.

In July 1755, San Sebastián de Magsung̃ay was attacked by the Moro people led by Datu Bantílan of the Sultanate of Sulu. Within the next few months, the villagers moved from the coast to a nearby hilly area and founded the town of Bacolod in late 1755 or early 1756. The town was constituted as a parish in 1788 but did not get a resident priest until 1802.

In 1846, a group of Augustinian Recollect missionaries was set to Negros by the bishop of Cebu and Negros to participate in the religious and political restructuring of the region. Bacolod was made the capital of the Province of Negros in 1849 and was formally transferred to the Augustinian Recollects in 1871. In 1889, Negros was split into two provinces, Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, and Bacolod became the former’s capital.

In November 1898, Bacolod was one of the centers of the Negros Revolution that ended the Spanish colonization of the island and resulted in the establishment of the short-lived Republic of Negros within the First Philippine Republic, with Bacolod as its capital. Following the outbreak of the Philippine-American War, the government of the Republic of Negros surrendered to American forces in March 1899 and came under United States protection the following month.

After the defeat of the Philippines in the war, Negros was formally reintegrated into the Philippines under the American administration, and Bacolod once again became the capital of Negros Occidental. It was officially elevated to the city status on June 18, 1938 and formally inaugurated as a chartered city on October 19 of the same year. The anniversary of the adoption of the city charter is celebrated as Bacolod City Charter Day, and the anniversary of the inauguration is marked by the annual MassKara festival on the fourth Sunday of October.

During World War II, Bacolod was occupied by the Japanese forces from May 1942 until March 1945. Following the independence of the Philippines, it grew and developed, gaining the status of a highly urbanized city in 1984. In 2008, Bacolod was named as the best place to live in the Philippines in a survey conducted by MoneySense Magazine.