Reyna father and son laid to rest
IT was virtually a reunion of politicians, past and present, and of relatives when two distinguished sons of Dagupan, former Mayor Liberato Reyna Sr. and former Councilor Cesar Reyna were laid to rest last July 14 at the Eternal Gardens.
Former Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr., who was vice mayor when the elder Reyna was at the helm of the city for the third and last time, joined incumbent Mayor Benjamin Lim as pallbearers of the Reyna patriarch.
The other pall bearers were former Vice Mayor Teodoro Manaois III, whose father Cipriano succeeded Reyna as mayor in 1967, and Councilor Luis Samson Jr., whose late father Luis co-founded with ‘Mama Libring’ the Luzon Colleges, now the University of Luzon (UL); and former Vice Mayor and OIC Mayor Felipe Siapno.
Reyna fought the father of Teodoro, Cipriano, for the mayorship of Dagupan twice — winning the first and losing the second. The two were also balaes as Cesar married the Manaois patriarch’s daughter, Marlyn, mother of Councilor Ma. Librada Fe Reyna.
Former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., who partnered with Reyna in many political battles, and his wife, Fourth District Rep. Gina de Venecia, were represented by their daughter, former Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Clarissa Cruz Evangelista.
The Estrellas were represented by partylist Rep. Robert Estrella Jr.
Former Councilor Teofilo Guadiz III, now chief of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in the National Capital Region, came to condole with the Reyna family.
Before reaching the Saint John the Evangelist Metropolitan Cathedral, the caskets of the Reyna father and son, carried on horse-drawn carriages, passed by city hall where honor ceremonies were accorded by city officials and employees led by Lim and Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez.
The UL Band and a squad of honor guards from the Philippine Army preceded the carriages.
At the jampacked cathedral, Auxiliary Bishop Renato Mayugba said not only the Reyna family mourns the loss of their loved ones but the whole of Dagupan as well.
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