Helping the firefighters in memory of a daughter’s death
By Eva C. Visperas

 

He looked teary-eyed.
It was his first time to talk in our presence about his daughter’s untimely demise.
“I will never be able to get over the pain of losing my daughter,” said  House  Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. after he distributed firefighting  suits to the Dagupan City  Fire Department in memory of Kristina Casimira or KC de Venecia who perished in a fire that gutted their Makati residence City a year ago.
De Venecia, misty-eyed said “it’s not part of psychological make up of man that we bury our children.”
“Our children should bury us. It’s a very difficult psychological barrier,” he added. KC was 16 when she died. Last Saturday was the first time de Venecia shared his sentiments to the media about KC’s untimely demise.
De Venecia gave firefighting suits to the local fire station here led by Fire Marshall Chief Inspector Manuel Manuel. Last Sunday, the PANDA Volunteer Fire Brigade, a Filipino-Chinese group of firefighters based in Dagupan City, received also another unit. These are the first of the 30 units to be distributed nationwide.
This week, other key cities like Manila, Makati, Quezon, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Angeles, Urdaneta, Baguio City, Alaminos and San Carlos City, among others will next receive their share at the Speaker’s office in Congress in the succeeding weeks.
The turn-over will be made through Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes and National Fire Department Director Rogelio Asignado.
De Venecia said he has been working on this project since KC died in the fire.
Each unit costs $5,000 each including taxes. He added that he’s going to  talk to  President  Gloria Arroyo and Budget Secretary Romulo Neri and the chairman of  the House  Appropriations Committee so they can buy more for the 115 fire departments in 115 cities.
He said he will also ask the governors, congressmen and senators to contribute a portion of their pork barrel.
“My daughter could have been saved if the firefighters had these equipment,”  de Venecia said.
He said the firefighters could not save KC because they could not enter the room where she was trapped because firemen had no firefighting suits.
The suit was bought in Vienna, Austria when he was invited as guest of the Austrian parliament few months ago and saw the suit in action.
“I started this to make Filipinos see how we can help them during fire incidents,” de Venecia said.
He added, “We are very proud of our fire department but we need to equip them.”
De Venecia said he, together with wife Gina, had also inaugurated the modern ward in the Philippine General Hospital for burned victims two months ago. Aside from this, his wife, together with other grieving mothers led the inauguration of a center in Quezon City for grieving mothers during the first death anniversary of KC.
He said he is considering putting up a separate center for grieving fathers.
Asked what he does whenever he remembers KC, de Venecia said, “I just pray, stop what I’m doing and pray and I just cry quietly then do my work”.
“Thank God. God has given me good health so that I can continue thinking and working,” he said.
He added, “Work is the true elixir of life. The happiest man is the busiest man. Once you believe that you have reached the summit, then your decline begins. Then you must continue struggling towards the summit”.
Life indeed must go on, no matter what. In every man’s tragic experience, there’s always something good we can learn from it.

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