Think about it
Cezar Quiambao scores many ‘firsts’
By Jun Velasco
“The presidency is destiny,”– Senator Bongbong Marcos.
WE saw a big number of rain-drenched students accompanied by a few provincial officials wearing white t-shirts printed with “Run for Life” rite in a morning march to mark the 25th anniversary of the July 16, l991 earthquake; that holocaust wrought havoc to our province and especially Dagupan City.
What struck us by the sight of rain-soaked youngsters was their utter lack of health concern, as if their exposure to respiratory attack was plain frolic and fun, a thing to behold!
We called the attention of marcher Angel Gumarang, former barangay Bonuan Gueset captain and provincial sports official (he was proud of would be governor Pogi Espino in the marchers group) of the risk on his health being on the threshold of being a senior citizens, but he simply smiled as if to say his macho side could weather any cold weather.
We thought the white T-shirt marchers —all rain-drenched— were devout Dagupenos who were the holocaust’s luckless victims, but the “run” we heard was under the auspices of the provincial government.
Gumarang, who was behind the supremacy of UPang’s and later LNU’s basketball teams, has surprised his peers for making a name in Governor Espino’s sports program. The guy has athletic talent although his childhood ambition was to become mayor of Dagupan.
It’s hoped the political element won’t sideline the more urgent and more substantive thrust of the July 16 rite, which is a call not to forget its heart- wrenching memory of cost lives and the graphic portrait of ruin and rubble that pervaded the whole of Luzon.
Was the marching act under the cyclonic rain a new kind of self flagellation — an expression of sympathy to the pain and anguish of the thousands of the 1990 earthquake victims?
By the way, we thought the hundreds of youngsters and a few old folk who volunteered to get soaked in the rain might contract influenza or worse.
God forbid!
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Since its birth, the Sunday Punch has sustained its exemplary work as a reliable and responsible reporter and interpreter of events in these parts.
It’s the father and son Ermin Garcia’s legacy, and the Pangasinan community has been the lucky beneficiary of community journalism at its best.
It might interest the reader to know that Ermin F. Garcia, Jr., the publisher-editor, is really not a scowling, intellectual snob as certain quarters regard him probably due to the serious import of his Punchline column and incisive editorials; on the other hand, he is a warm playful, witty, but serious journalistic mogul.
It’s been a great privilege and fun to work with him.
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A friend, Dr. Cesar T. Quiambao, is a visionary having scored many “firsts” in the country’s economic development.
The first infra Public-Private Partnership project, the $514-million Metro Manila Skyway and its companion $57- million Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) toll way believed responsible for an unprecedented economic boom south of Metro Manila.
The Skyway came after his stint in Indonesia where he conceptualized the skyway in partnership with Indonesia’s infrastructure behemoth, Citra.
Quiambao was a big name in Indonesia’s construction industry for 14 years, as overseer of the construction of the Lhoksumawe airfield that Mobil Oil put up for the world’s largest natural-gas processing complex in Sumatra.
He later put up the IT, the government computerization project in the Land Transportation Office that became instantly process driver’s licenses banishing corruption.
The Build-Operate-Own computerization project was done through Stradcom Corp., which he domiciled in hometown Bayambang that lifted the third-class town to first-class city via the tax contributions of the company.
He also conceptualized a tertiary hospital in Guam –the Guam Regional Medical City, which will open this year. Guam has named Dr. Quiambao a director of that medical facility, an ambassador-at-large.
As a young businessman, he put up the CSF Rural Bank of Bayambang, which has backstopped would-be entrepreneurs venture into profitable projects.
Amidst his business successes nationwide and beyond, Quiambao has endeared his hometown peers and province-mates for putting up a foundation that has been unlocking the Pangasinan youth’s potential for economic and entrepreneurial leadership.
By the way, he has a Doctorate in Humanities from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in recognition for his various achievements.
(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)
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