IT will be a non-working holiday in Pangasinan on Monday, November 13, to commemorate the 110th birthday of the province’s foremost son, the late Speaker Eugenio Perez.

This is provided for in Republic Act No. 6721, signed into law on March 20, 1989 by then President Corazon Aquino, declaring November 13 of each year as special non-working public holiday in the province.

RA No. 6712 was authored by the late Rep. Fabian Sison of the third district of Pangasinan and co-authored by Reps.Oscar Orbos of the first district, Antonio Bengson III of the second district, Jose de Venecia Jr. of the fourth district, Conrado Estrella Jr. of the fifth district and Conrado Estrella III of the sixth district.

Speaker Perez was born in 1896 in sitio Ubong in the former barrio of Basista (now a municipality) in the municipality of San Carlos. After graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines, Perez became a councilor of San Carlos.

From there, he was elected member of the Philippine Assembly and rose to become the first   Speaker of the House of Representatives as the representative of the second district of Pangasinan.

Among the major legislations he authored in Congress were the creations of the Central Bank of the Philippines, the Development Bank of the Philippines, the National Power Corporation, which was responsible for the industrialization of the country from the ruins of World War II and the National Irrigation Administration.

He was also instrumental in passing a law in Congress that converted the then municipality of Dagupan into a city, and the creation of the then San Carlos City General Hospital, now Pangasinan Provincial Hospital.  

In politics, he co-founded the Liberal Party together with then President Manuel Roxas and also became its president.

He was married to Doña Consuelo Salazar Perez with whom he had three children, Vicky, Eugene and Consuelo, the present governor of the Board of Investments.

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