ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPEECH DELIVERED IN SAMARNON BY LOUDETTE AVELINO

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPEECH DELIVERED IN SAMARNON BY LOUDETTE AVELINO, ON AVELINO DAY, AUGUST 5, 2014

At this event, notebooks, pencils and books were distributed to the poorest grade school students in Basud, Trinidad, Carmen and Calbayog East (this was delivered originally in Samarnon)

Updated 7/28/17

Good Morning to you all….good morning children! Good morning teachers!...

(addressing the children) What date is it today?. (response) August 5!

What day is it today?  (response)Tuesday!

But you don’t have any classes? Why don’t you have any classes today when today is Tuesday?

(children respond) Because it is a holiday!  What holiday?  (the children did not respond; they seemed confused, until the teachers prompted them)

(response) August 5 is Avelino Day!

A long, long time ago, a child was born here in Calbayog on August 5.  Calbayog was not yet a city; it was a municipality.

When this child was very young, perhaps your ages, he saw and witnessed the workers in the pier here in Calbayog (at that time the pier was located in Calbayog itself; today it is in Maguinoo). This young boy noticed and was quiet disturbed and upset at the incredibly hard work these workers were subjected to – carrying, loading and unloading heavy cargo from the ship to the pier.  In the heat of the day and on rainy days, the work goes on. But they made very little in pay – pay which could not contribute to the improvement of their lives or that of their families.

This child was so affected by what he saw and witnessed but he could not do anything about it. He was just a child after all. BUT this child wrote, recorded what he saw and witnessed which he considered the mistreatment or maltreatment of the laborers.

This child had a mimeograph machine in his home (a mimeograph is a machine which can print or copy.  (Perhaps mimeograph machines are no longer existent today). This mimeograph machine is what this child used to write and record what he saw and experienced at the piers watching the laborers, who had no influence or a voice in society. The story of this child was shared with me by Lolo Lucing Barandino of Oquendo, who was a close friend of Jose Avelino.

This child’s parents noted that this child was sensitive; he seemed different from the other children even if this child did ordinary children’s things like any other child does. But their child seemed to focus on observing life and observing people.

The parents encouraged their child to study hard.  And then they decided to send this child and sister to Manila for their schooling.  It was a major sacrifice, sending so young a children to Manila.  But it was important to the parents that their children get the very best education available. And they never regretted the expense or the sacrifices required of all of them.

The boy finished law at the University of Sto.Tomas in Manila.  His grades, his scholastic records from grade one up to and until his law school was always “excelente” or “sobre saliente” (super excellent) so that one researcher said this boy’s grades were higher than the grades of Jose Rizal.

The name of this child in this story is none other than Jose Avelino, the Father of the City of Calbayog!  Jose Avelino was born August 5, 1890 here in Calbayog. His father was Baltazar Avelino a businessman (originally from Bulacan) and his mother was Ildefonsa Dira, a teacher. He had one sibling, a sister, named  Iluminada nicknamed Daday who became a teacher.

(addressing the children)  do you know Jose Rizal?, do you know who he is? (a resounding YES in response); do you know this child whose school grades were higher than that of Jose Rizal whose name is Jose Avelino? (a hesitant NO in response).

Affected by the difficulties and challenges of the lives of the workers he saw at the pier from early on in his life, Jose Avelino decided to get into politics thinking and believing that he can make laws that affect the ordinary man.

When Avelino entered politics, his political career moved quickly along: he started as a Councilor; moved on to being a Congressman, then Senator and then President of the Senate (in fact Jose Avelino was the first Senate President of the Republic of the Philippines). He also served concurrently, simultaneously as the Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Public Works and Communications during the Philippine Commonwealth under President Manuel Quezon.  Avelino is the first Samarnon to serve in national elected and appointed offices at these levels of office.

President of the Senate, Senate President, my goodness!!! It is so good to hear that right? ….makes you swell with pride for a fellow Samarnon.

The position of president of the senate is the most powerful position, politically, in Congress because the president of the senate chooses or decides which among the many, many bills from congressional representatives and senators will be presented for a vote.

Usually the bills he selects are those that support the program or agenda of the president of the Philippines which is supported by a majority of congress.

The president of the senate, does not need to make or write bills himself. Instead, the president of the senate may ask a friend in Congress, to write or draft a bill.

This is what happened in fact with the bill that created the City of Calbayog. Senate President Jose Avelino asked his fellow Samarnon and friend in Congress, Congressman Agripino Escareal, (1^st Congress, 1946-49, first district of Samar) to forward a bill that would consolidate three municipalities (Calbayog, Oquendo and Tinambacan) and create the City of Calbayog. The rest is history. Calbayog became the 19^th City of the Philippines and began to qualify to participate in the Internal Revenue Allotment referred to as IRA (a source of funding from the national government to allow the City to provide services and develop programs for progress)

For example, in the past 5-10 years, Calbayog City received funding from IRA ranging from Php650 Million to Php 1Billion. Without the IRA, Calbayog City cannot and will not be able to develop to the levels it has to date. The City would have had to rely entirely on business and personal taxes.

Just so you know, Sen. Pres. Jose Avelino invited the municipality of Santa Margarita to join with Oquendo, Tinambacan and Calbayog in forming Calbayog City. Santa Margarita declined.

In 1945 the officials of the Municipality of Calbayog, honored Sen. President Jose Avelino, for his many accomplishments and the honor he brought to Calbayog and to Samar for his service to the country, they renamed a park in Calbayog, Plaza Avelino (from Marina Park, which was the name of the park under the Spaniards). But the Senate President was not made aware of this because he does not buy into or believe in “being honored” by the public or his followers.  To Avelino serving was in and of itself an honor.

(I asked the audience) Where is this Avelino Plaza? (everyone expresses wonderment and confusion and I allow them time to think).  Some children raise their hands and name Sacred Heart Plaza (half owned by the Catholic Church and half by the City, fronting City Hall and the Cathedral). Teachers and adults consult one another for possible sites of this Avelino Plaza!!

(when no correct responses were ventured, I continued). This Plaza Avelino was unceremoniously taken back, by then Mayor Jose Roño. The Mayor simply noted at a City Council meeting that the new name for Plaza Avelino would be Nijaga Park

(short review of who Nijaga is): {Nijaga was born in Calbayog, worked as a sacristan in the Church, joined the Katipuneros, was captured by the Spaniards and ultimately shot to death by musketry in Bagumbayan (now Rizal Park) by the Spaniards along with 12 others. These 13 now known as the Trece Martires de Bagumbayan) were charged with treason, sedition and rebellion by the Spanish government.}

What Mayor Jose Roño did was clearly not just politically motivated,  but certainly seemingly unseemly   No reasons were given by the mayor or anyone else at that meeting, why the name change; why deny the founder of Calbayog City, Sen. President Jose Avelino a park named after him.  

Nijaga could have been honored at the Sacred Heart Plaza, having served as a sacristan and was more aligned with the Catholic Church; he could have his name on a building, a chapel at the Cathedral named after him  etc.  In any case, at the end of that meeting, Mayor Roño did give everyone on the City Council a hefty raise.

Avelino on the other hand was/is the Founder of the City of Calbayog; he served as Senator, President of the Senate. He served as Secretary of Labor, and Secretary of Public Works and Communications.  Avelino not only served in Samar Island, or in Calbayog, he served in the entire Philippines in national office.

Note to readers: you can  fact-check these Resolutions I referred to:  (1) renaming Avelino Plaza to Nijaga Park …although you will note thereon Mayor Roño totally ignored that Avelino Plaza existed; the resolution he put out was merely renaming Marina Park (the name given by the Spaniards to this park) to Nijaga Park. (2) you can also get a copy of the Resolution of the City Council naming Marina Park to Avelino Plaza from the Sangguniang Panglunsod, Calbayog City

We need to get Nijaga Park renamed back to Avelino Plaza, the Father of Calbayog City because in my opinion, the officials/politicians in the administration of Mayor Roño who worked to replace the name of the Founder with the name of Nijaga showed disrespect for the Founder of Calbayog City. But not only was this act disrespectful if not insulting to the Founder of the City, it was likewise disrespectful and insulting to the Calbayognons and Samarnons.

Why don’t our city officials just transfer Nijaga to Sacred Heart Plaza, since it is Church property and Nijaga being once a sacristan properly belongs there.

There have been members of the City Council of Calbayog, over the years have met with and spoken to then Congressman Mel Senen Sarmiento, suggesting to Congressman Sarmiento for a change and return of the name Avelino Plaza. But Congressman Sarmiento has remained unrelenting and vehement in his objection to this day. He just refuses. The Congressman does not give any rationale, explanation, any reason for his opposition or objection. Unfortunately, these City council members can do nothing.

The point to remember in all these, despite the politics of it, is we cannot, no one can change history, including  the history of Calbayog. We know the facts, we know the truth. We as Samarnons, as Calbayognons, cannot live a lie forever   Right now there is nothing we can do. What is important is that we all know the truth and ultimately, the truth will “out” the lie.

Senate President Jose Avelino accomplished a lot and did a lot of things not only for Calbayog City but for the Philippines. His legislative record bears this out.

One of the greatest or best things Avelino accomplished for the people was the creation of a labor union – one of the first labor unions in the country in fact,  called Gremio Obrero de Stevadores to protect and espouse the rights of the workers.

As President of the Senate, he was the major proponent, the individual that pushed for the establishment of high schools in the provinces.  Because in the past, there were no high schools in the provinces; anyone who wanted to go to high school had to travel to Manila and live there.

(to the students). Education and discipline are two very important elements to Avelino to achieve success in your lives and careers.  You yourselves can achieve success if you devote yourselves to studying. Studying is not just done in school. Outside, on the streets, in parks, while traveling, you should all try to read and understand what the words you read mean. You can read newspapers and other materials you can get your hands on. Also “observing” is a way of learning as well.  You can observe behavior, actions, activities and learn to distinguish what is bad and unacceptable behavior and emulate the good.

When a person is not educated, people refer to them as “ignorant” and what that means in reality is if you are deemed ignorant, in all probability no one pays attention to you or your needs or your dreams. So get educated in all its forms.

To the teachers, encourage and inspire your students to read,  learn more and learn well so that they can  achieve their dreams and ambitions.

Education, is your wealth and it is wealth that cannot be taken away from you.

Thank you very much.

Loudette Avelino