By Leonardo Micua

 

NO other Dagupeno is more deserving of the highest Pinablin Dagupeno Award given during the culmination of the Diamond Jubilee Celebration of Dagupan City on June 19, than former five-time Speaker Jose C. de Venecia, Jr.

Now 87 years old and a legend of his own, JdV was a recipient of the “Biskeg na Baley Diamond Award” presented by Mayor Belen Fernandez, and continues to share his wisdom in good governance to the nation through his inspiring weekly column in the Manila Bulletin.

A journalist before he joined politics, he achieved what no other politicians of Dagupan had achieved — he was virtually knocking at the corridors of power in his more than 13 long years as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

But his trip to Malacanang was frustrated by a Joseph Estrada.

Former Assemblyman Homobono Adaza, in his column years ago in the Manila Times, wrote: JdV could have been the best President of the Philippines that never was.

Indeed, JdV was Dagupan’s greatest gift to the nation by becoming the House speaker five times, no politician in the Philippines and the world, past and present, had equaled.

As fourth highest official of the land from 1992 to 1998 and 2003 to 2008, a record that is yet to be broken, JdV has left an indelible mark in Philippine politics which his fellow Dagupenos will certainly be proud of for a lifetime.

He was first elected congressman of the then Second District in 1969, roundly beating then incumbent Congressman Jack Soriano of San Carlos City. Recall that he and then incumbent Congressman Angel B. Fernandez lost to Jack in their first encounter in the previous election.

When Congress was abolished during the martial law years, JdV combed the deserts in the Middle East as a businessman looking for oil, where he had the rare chance of rubbing  elbows with Kings, Sheiks and other rulers, an experience that no other Dagupeno had.

He bounced back in 1987 in the first election held after the EDSA revolution to seize his old congressional seat as a representative of the newly constituted Fourth District.

The earthquake that ravaged Dagupan on July 16, 1990 saw De Venecia’s heroics. Finding  the nation’s vault empty, then President Corazon Aquino tapped him to spearhead a mission to look for funds in Europe and the Americas to bankroll the cost of rehabilitating the damaged areas.

JdV succeeded in his mission and this resulted in the enactment of Republic Act No. 6960 that he authored, that appropriated  P10 billion for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of all earthquake-hit areas in Luzon.

True to the words of then Mayor Liberato Reyna Sr. that the earthquake could be a blessing in disguise, because Dagupan soon rose from the rubble of the quake, with a lot of help from JdV.

With JdV in the good graces of Cory, he constantly pressured government agencies to come to the aid of Dagupan. A new Magsaysay Bridge was constructed, followed by the reconstruction of roads that connected the central business district to the villages, and the market that were all toppled down by the temblors of 7.6 magnitude.

He was instrumental, too, in the reconstruction of the Don Teofilo Sison Memorial Medical Center, now R1MC.

The De Venecia Highway from Calasiao to Dagupan, and the construction of the De Venecia Expressway Extension from Lucao to Pantal were built funded partly by his Priority Development Fund, which he saved for the purpose.

This earned him the title as the architect of a New Dagupan.

The Region 1 Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Bonuan Binloc was JdV’s  brainchild, a project that was continued by his wife Gina, who succeeded him in Congress.

In politics, he formed Lakas, together with Raul Manglapus that adopted General Fidel V. Ramos, one of the main  EDSA heroes, as its presidential candidate and who ultimately won in the1992 election.

In the House of Representatives, he formed the Rainbow Coalition that elected him Speaker,  that supported FVR’s administration with major legislations. When Gloria Macapagal Arroyo seized power following the second EDSA revolution that deposed Erap Estrada, JdV was catapulted back to speakership.

When he had a falling out with Arroyo, he continued to shower Dagupan and his beloved district with more meaningful projects.

When he left Congress, he shuttled from one continent to another delivering speeches in various forums and parliaments to help promote world peace and understanding.

This should explain why Dagupan’s Biskeg na Baley Pinablin Award was given to its greatest son, JdV.

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