Duque reiterates challenge on Pangasinan founding day
FORMER Vice Governor Gonzalo Duque has reiterated his previous challenge to the provincial government to conduct a comprehensive research in order to ascertain the exact day in Philippine history when Pangasinan was created as a province.
Noting that Pangasinan is the only province which is not celebrating its founding anniversary, the president of Lyceum Northwestern University said “there must be a conscious effort to find our roots in order to establish our own identity.”
The Pangasinenses are a proud race but sadly they do not even know their humble beginning, deplored Duque.
He said the province is celebrating Pangasinan Day every November 13 of each year but this is to commemorate the birth anniversary of the late Speaker Eugenio Perez Sr., a foremost son of Pangasinan and not the date when Pangasinan was born.
Other provinces like Pampanga and La Union are celebrating their respective anniversaries yearly but Pangasinan, the second largest province in both area and population in the Philippines, is not doing it, he said.
He recalled that during the nine-year reign of then Governor, now Representative, Victor Agbayani, he challenged him to create a commission that will research on the date when Pangasinan was created as a province.
Nothing has been done so far to ascertain this fact, Duque lamented.
He repeated the same challenge to incumbent Governor Amado Espino Jr. when he took over the helm of the provincial government in July this year.
Soon as we find that out, we can now establish our own identity as people,” said Duque who was vice governor of Pangasinan from 1987 to 1992.
He believes that it must have been a royal decree issued by the Spanish monarch, if not the cortez (courts), that created the province of Pangasinan and this can be found in the official records of the Spanish government in Madrid, Spain.
The early Pangasinan province, historians said, comprised a large area that extended up to Zambales, Tarlac and the present Ilocos Sur.
He said while other provinces are giving anniversary bonuses to their employees during their charter days, the employees in Pangasinan end up with nothing because nobody knows when their provinces was created.
“It would be a source of pride for us all if we knew when our province was chartered”, said Duque.—LM
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