Think about it
Pangasinenses still call JDV “Speaker”
By Jun Velasco
SOME people – the anti GMAs – will not like this column piece.
On Rizal Day, Dec. 30, 2008, the President thru its press office under Sec. Jess Dureza invited some 80 Region l newsmen to a “media holiday” in Gov. Victor Ortega’s picturesque La Union.
Venue of the “jamming” was the posh Thunderbird Resorts in Poro Point where you can see a slice of sea-paradise at the veranda.
Minutes earlier, we were debating where to go, Manila or San Fernando. Being Knights of Rizal public relations director and QC commander, we were supposed to do certain tasks on Rizal Day in Manila.
We placated our guilt knowing we had directed Rizal news releases in Manila dailies emailed to us by Dr. Pablo Trillana, chair of the Rizal leadership training in Baguio City, and Rizal top students of the year quest chair Manny Cabusao.
A trip to Manila would have been fun, as we told GMA it was Jun Ebdane’s birthday.
While she was busy socializing, we told her about brother Bong who met her in London. She remembered with a laugh. Is her “local media invasion” nationwide? She called old NPC partner Joe Cappadocia, now a usec, to give the details. She was a portrait of pulchritude hopping from table to table, posing for pictorials and doing small talks with the local media. She was escorted by FG Mike, Gov.Ortega, his wife Mary Jane, Congressman Butch Dumpit and Pangasinan Congresswoman Rachel Arenas, La Union police director Noli Talino and the PIAs led by director Abe Labadia and Pangasinan chief Behn Fer Hortaleza.
Unpopular president? If we held a straw vote, she would have scored a run-away vote. And yet unlike those unsavory envelope-laced meetings in Palasyo, this La Union affair was cash free, and the guys and gals unusually enjoyed it, or so we thought.
Earlier, we asked the PIA if the affair was linked with the lamented charter change. They didn’t know. Though everyone went home with only baskets of goodies, GMA was ok because, as Liesel said, she remembered in the season of joy.
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Our subdivision – Tondaligan Blue Beach Subdivision – was blessed by Fr. Jerry Orbos at its belated Christmas party Monday afternoon. When he arrived at 4 p.m., there were only 20 or so homeowners not knowing the priest’s punctuality, but as soon as he wore his priestly robe and said “let’s start the mass,” 200 people suddenly showed up miraculously, and swelled into almost 300. Many laughed at his jokes, felt his fatherly sermon, and loved his “please tell your neighbor that he is still fortunate to be alive,” “you love him/her,” and other similar instructions.
What makes Fr. Jerry click among Christian leaders is his humility. Most evangelists are not approachable because they do not exude the natural warmth and humility of the Bani, Pangasinan priest, who is warmly hugged, embraced, loved and treated like a natural listening post by everyone including the non-Catholics.
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We wish Mayor Al Fernandez, best friend of Dagupan City National High School (he only studied there during his freshman year), construct a much bigger larger city plaza to accommodate a bigger crowd, say, l0, 000 people. This became evident during the alumni grand reunion where the dancing space worked like standing room only.
The PR coup staged by reunion chair Manny Roy and alumni ass’n prexy Judge Emma Torio, et al packed around 4,000 alumni and guests that constricted the dancing place to everybody’s discomfort. But the lovers wanted it that way obviously.
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Pangasinan newsmen sized up Joey de Venecia in an impromptu powwow at Pedritos after the inauguration of the newly opened Dawel-Lucao Diversion road-bridge built by the Philippine and Japanese governments through the initiative of Congressman Joe de Venecia. The newsmen found Joey well prepared for a senatorial job but wished he spoke more from the view angle of the locals.
Meanwhile, Pangasinenses who still address JdV “Speaker” regard the Diversion Road named by the city council “Jose de Venecia Sr. Road Extension” as JdV’s best legacy for Dagupenos, now a veritable eco tourism booster and major traffic problem solver in Dagupan. It will probably take many years when Pangasinenses, especially Dagupenos, unlearn the “Speaker” moniker because they never had it so good with him at the helm of the House.
