Last Monday was the 107th birth anniversary of the late Governor Juan M. Alberto, a fact most likely unknown to anybody outside the political clan and the Virac elementary school named after him where a brief ceremony was held in his honor.
The last time that Malacanang or the Senate of the Philippines declared the day of birth, Feb. 17, as “Governor Juan M. Alberto Day” was in 1984, through Proclamation No. 2340 signed by then President Ferdinand Marcos, who would be ousted two years later.
The then strongman noted that it was fitting and proper to give the people of Catanduanes, his birthplace, full opportunity to celebrate his birthday with appropriate ceremonies, although the day was a regular working and school day.
During the time of then Mayor Jose U. Alberto II, the provincial government cleaned up the park in Sta. Elena, where the late governor’s bust still stands, for a proper wreath laying ceremony.
The late Uban served as governor from 1960 to 1067 before Marcos appointed him to head the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
It was on his way to work, while about to board an elevator, that he was shot to death by an unidentified assailant in the morning of Sept. 18, 1967.
That fateful day coincided with the 14th birthday of the former governor’s daughter by an earlier relationship. The woman later sued for her share of the Alberto estate and the case reached the Supreme Court, which affirmed the decision of the probate court that she had acquired the status of a natural child and thus entitled to share in the estate of the late governor.
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By afternoon of Feb. 17, there was no mention on social media about the late Uban Alberto, even from JMAMES, the district hospital in San Andres or the Virac barangay named after him.
If our current leaders from the province down to the villages do not see any significance in wreath laying ceremonies or brief programs honoring the achievements of the island’s late leaders, perhaps they least they can do it to just direct their PR units to at least dig up info on them and craft a nice article for posting on Facebook.
They can also extend the honor to the winners of The Outstanding Catandunganon Award (TOCA), remembering them when they die and on their birthdays.
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University part-time instructor Bo Rodulfo has this to say about Charter Change:
“We don’t need Charter change, we’re just fed up with all bureaucracy and unnecessary red tapes that slows economic growth. The Constitution isn’t the problem. The problem is the deep-seated massive corruptions in the government.
People masquerading as public servants but in truth are enriching themselves thru government kickbacks – need to eschewed. Have we ever considered the blueprint of the meteoric rise to economic dominance of our neighbor Vietnam?
How about the proven not working too ” nationalistic ” views of some quarters that prevents foreign investors from investing in our country?
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A LONG CELEBRATION. A man and his wife are at a restaurant, and the husband keeps staring at an old drunken lady swigging her gin at a nearby table.
His wife asks, “Do you know her?”
“Yes,” sighs the husband. “She’s my ex-wife. She took to drinking right after we divorced seven years ago, and I hear she hasn’t been sober since.”
“My God!” says the wife. “Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?”