72nd AGEW NA DAGUPAN

FOR six years, Dagupan is a city in great abundance, proud and mighty. There is no stopping our city today.  

This was underscored by Mayor Belen Fernandez during the commemoration of the 72nd Agew na Dagupan held at the covered court of Barangay Herrero-Perez East on Thursday.      

She earlier led the wreath-laying ceremony in front of the bust of the late Speaker Eugenio Perez Sr., author of Republic Act 170 which was signed into law by then President Manuel Roxas on June 20, 1947.

The mayor was assisted by Dagupan City Schools Superintendent, Lorna Bugayong, DepEd Supervisor Venus Estabillio, P/Lt. Colonel Abubakar Mangelen Jr., chief of police; City Administrator Farah Decano and Herrero-Perez East Barangay Captain Salvacion Bravo.

Fernandez stressed that Dagupan’s incredible story of growth for the past six years is not her story but the story of every Dagupeno who came to recognize that each one “is a bearer of the light of this great city”.

“Everyone — my fellow workers in government, teachers, market vendors, jeepney drivers, garbage collectors, barangay officials, the young and the old…everyone has given so much to our city,” said Fernandez who is ending her six-year term on June 30 this year.

“The story of Dagupan is that it has continued to draw the fancy and admiration of all our neighbors because of the city’s indomitable spirit which is “the spirit to rise, the spirit that drives us to achieve and the spirit to triumph amid adversities”.

The mayor recalled that though Dagupan was devastated by the July 16, 1990 earthquake, it quickly bounced back after only a few years to become the greatest city today in the whole of Pangasinan and Region 1.      

“In the annals of our history, there were many periods where our beloved city had several great starts, only to be interrupted by many periods of uncertainties, calamities, failed expectations and leaders who did not measure up,” she added.  

She said that as city mayor for six years, her personal account why the city has grown beyond our expectation can be found in this famous line: “When we all give, we all gain”.

“For six years, we always wake up to a gentle battle every day, decide whether to go in the direction of worry, or weariness, and indifference, or will go in the direction of hope, of good and clean government, accountability and transparency”.

She bid Dagupenos goodbye by saying “after the speeches and the program are concluded today, do not let Agew na Dagupan become another ordinary red-letter day in our calendar”.

She begged every Dagupan citizens “to remember our values, the rights we protected and fought for and work to live up to them, defend them at all cost if necessary”.

Fernandez said if the people all pull together and stand up for one another, Dagupan will continue to be what it is today–the greatest city in Pangasinan, and the strongest in Region 1.

She said the great forebears of Dagupan had great dreams and plans for a fledgling city back in 1947, adding it was one fuelled by hope.

“The monumental growth and progress and the tremendous opportunities that we bear in our hands today would have been unimaginable back then, but I have always stated this many times over: Dagupan’s growth is unstoppable”. (Leonardo Micua)

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