JdV leads Dagupan’s ‘original’ families in building chapel
FORMER House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., 4th district representative, rallied the ‘original’ families of Dagupan to help build the Capilla Juan de Evangelista, beside the St. John Cathedral.
De Venecia, now a staunch critic of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, took time out from his busy activities in Manila to lead in the groundbreaking rite for the proposed chapel on Sunday.
The chapel will be constructed in the former Knights of Columbus building, once a permanent fixture inside the cathedral premises.
De Venecia hailed the bonding of the present generation of the families that settled in Dagupan post-war era and greatly contributed to the progress and development of Dagupan as a city, to build a chapel.
The Capilla San Juan de Evangelista, estimated to cost P8.8 million, is intended to symbolize the passage of life to another life, said Dr. Aurora Samson Reyna of the University of Luzon.
The groundbreaking was attended by representatives of the pioneering families that made Dagupan their home.
De Venecia, whose family was among the families who first settled in Dagupan, then just a municipal town of Pangasinan, initially contributed P50,000 of his P1 million pledge for the project.
He asked members of the ‘original’ batch of families to make their contributions to help realize the project.
Those who attended the groundbreaking rites included members of the families of the Fernandezes, Reynas, Manaoises, Siapnos, Villaflors, Samsons, Rayoses, Torios, Villamils, Coquias, Llamases and others.
Those who were not able to attend were the descendants of the first Filipino-Chinese families who set up trading stores, among them Jimmy Fernandez and Mariano Lim.
Dr. Gregoria Villaflor, one of the prime movers of the project, confirmed that the descendants of the pioneering families agreed to join hands so the project will be realized.
The ground breaking rite was attended by Monsignor Rafael Magno and Fr. Manuel de los Santos, parochial vicar.—LM
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