Mayor Belen rallies Chinoy community to help
FOR BALON DAGUPAN
DAGUPAN Mayor Belen Fernandez called on the city’s Chinese-Filipino (Chinoy) community to help her administration build a New Dagupan as she paid tribute to the early Chinese migrants who came to Pangasinan when the boundaries of the province still extended up to Ilocos.
Speaking during a program marking Chinese New Year at the city plaza Thursday night, Fernandez, herself of Chinese roots, extolled the local Chinoys for their enduring hard work, austerity and sense of community participation which she said are the foundations for progressive and happy lives.
She rallied them to continually take inspiration from their ancestors who bravely left their homes in China to find new life and went on to help build Dagupan City.
The mayor said the influence of Chinese culture in Pangasinan dates back to 1572 with the coming and going of Chinese pirate Limahong, noting that historians say the family names “Sison”, “Singson”, and “Quimson” among others can be “traced back to him”.
These descendants, she said, have distinguished themselves through the decades not only in business and other lines of endeavors but also in politics.
“Hard work, yes, and austerity, double yes,” Fernandez said.
“In my generation, I saw Dagupan growing day by day due to the industry of many Filipinos working side by side with Chinese migrants who found Dagupan a hospitable home,” she added.
She recalled that her own grandfather who came from Fujian province in China put up the first honest-to-goodness grocery store the moment he arrived in Dagupan.
When her grandfather died, her father Jimmy took charge of the business which grew into what is today the CSI Group of companies.
Then were the days, she said, when the present Barangay Herrero-Perez used to be called Pandayan because according to old folks there once lived a Chinese migrant who made guns for the Katipuneros.
She thanked the local Chinoy community as well as their Filipino counterparts who contributed to making Dagupan the trade and commercial of the north today.
In parting, Fernandez said: “Allow me once more to embrace my Filipino and Chinese brothers and sisters so that we can find strength in each other’s company as we move on to 2014”.
The Chinese New Year celebration at the city plaza was spiced up by fireworks, dragon and lion dances, and a presentation of the rich Chinese culture, with every Filipino-Chinese who joined the occasion wearing red shirts and gowns.
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