De Venecia hails Al Fernandez as ‘People’s Mayor’
FOURTH District Rep. Christopher de Venecia extolled the late Mayor Alipio Fernandez as the ‘People’s Mayor”, one who lived a life that was dedicated to service.
In a privilege speech in the House of Representatives on August 14, De Venecia said Mayor Al was “a bright business executive, a devoted public servant, and undoubtedly, one of Dagupan City’s greatest and noblest sons”.
He cited his stint as mayor of Dagupan for nine years and as Undersecretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government 2001-2003. Mayor Al also served the country as the Commissioner and Chairman of the Bureau of Immigration from 2004 to 2007, and was elected for one more term as mayor of Dagupan.
“To me, Mayor Al would always be an uncle, whose gifts of statesmanship and grace, will always be a source of inspiration,” he said.
The congressman said that after all, Mayor Al was one of the bright boys of his father, Jose de Venecia, the five-time Speaker of House, who joined him in his oil explorations in the middle-east during the mid- 70s.
He built the first City Museum of Dagupan that now houses the piano, owned by Leonor Rivera when she lived in Dagupan in 1890 and 1891, and a sizable collection of paintings by another full-blooded Dagupeño, national artist Victorio Edades, among others.
Mayor Al, he said, also launched a local jubilee known as Gilon Gilon Festival in 1997, which served as precursor of the famous Bangus Festival. He was also the first mayor who adopted the Dagupan Hymn as the singular music that extols all the aspirations of the Dagupeños.
De Venecia recalled some of his initiatives among them the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in 2008, Pawil Dagupan Program in 1999, PhilHealth Insurance coverage for qualified indigents, the sidewalk recovery and the accreditation of the city’s One Stop Business Center (OSBC).
He built the City Library, the People’s Astrodome, Senior Citizen Building, City Health Office, the PNP Building, the Market Building at Herrero-Perez and the welcome arches found in all the entry spots in the city.
His most significant accomplishment, he said, was the reconstruction of the city after it was decimated by the July 16, 1990 earthquake.
He showed how good governance can move Dagupan forward till it rose from the rubble of the 1990 earthquake, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
As, a tribute to his immeasurable contributions to Dagupan City, its Sanggunian Panlungsod, in a session last August 10, passed a resolution that formally recognized the late Mayor Alipio “Al” Fernandez, Jr. as Pinablin Ama Na Dagupan, which means “The Beloved Father of Dagupan”.
“Mayor Al lived what he preached. He steered his family to lead a life of service, as exemplified by an award conferred to the Fernandezes by the Jaycees International as Jaycees Outstanding Family for 2012. Mayor Al and his three children: Alfie, Alvin and Anna, including his son-in-law, have all been elected as Jaycee Senators,” De Venecia said. (Leonardo Micua)
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