BY JUN VELASCO
AS WE BEAT the deadline for this paper, two national organizations where we’ve held humble positions were preparing for their election of officers, the National Press Club (NPC) on May 6 and the Knights of Rizal (KoR) on May 27.
Although now based in the province (Pangasinan), we continue to be involved in the two groups, especially the KoR as commander of the Dagupan chapter.
In the NPC, we were two-time director, in 2001 and 2002, after our editorship of the NPC Digest.
During our stint as editor, the club sent us and Graphic editor Manuel Almario to a 14-day study in Beijing and Nanjing where we hobnobbed with our Communist counterparts.
We next returned the compliment by hosting 10 members of the All-China Journalists Assn., in their tour of Philippine media facilities six months later.
As NPC director, we initiated with fellow director Lolita Acosta of the Manila Standard a resolution reactivating the “old foggies” the likes of the late Max Soliven and Ben Rodriguez, and the ever lively and hearty Jun Icban, Dick Pascual and others which, we believe, gave birth to the Plaridel Club.
Our first directorship in 2001 was timed with NPC’s 50th anniversary; hence, a bronze plaque with our names as NPC officers was posted at the entrance of the club building.
Our fellow director, Dennis Iñigo, told us the candidate for president at the May 6 election, broadcast journalist Lakay Gonzalo, has no opponent. He will replace Paul Gutierrez of the Journal chain.
In the Knights of Rizal, we had a memorable stint as editor-in-chief of Bagumbayan when former Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide was supreme commander.
Our joining the KoR was initiated by our MLQU fraternity brod Lamberto Nanquil and fellow Rotarian Roger Qiambao, both former KoR supreme commanders. Bert and this writer were fraternity brothers at the Knights of the Golden Fleece (KGF), reputedly, “the exclusive scholars fraternity at MLQU.”
In the case of Quiambao, we were both past presidents of the Rotary Club of Metro Cubao.
When we decided to stay in Dagupan, our KoR national headquarters asked us to form a Dagupan chapter timed with the organization of the Lingayen-based group headed by former police officer Mariano “Sonny” Verzosa, Jr., at the initiative of his brother Titus, who is an active KoR officer based in New York City.
Incumbent KoR Supreme Commander, former Chief Justice Reynato Puno (as of this writing), led the knighthood rites in Lingayen sometime in July last year.
How ennobling to be in the company of two former Supreme Court Chief Justices!
An interesting subject that would invariably come out in Rizaliana discussions was the hero’s love affair (or affairs?) as there were a lot of women being linked with him, including a Japanese, a Parisian and other nationalities.
On this account, we advise the reader to get a copy of our kindred soul, Atty. Pablo Trillana’s “The Loves of Rizal and Other Essays.” Brod Pabling was a former KoR supreme commander.
Most accounts say many ladies were head over heels over our hero-lover boy, who stood at only 5’1’, according to historians. His attractiveness to ladies, we learned, was his A-1 intelligence and mild manners.
Intellectual sisters, Arabelle Ventinella- Arcinue, wife of Sual Mayor Roberto Arcinue, and Margarita V. Hamada, author of two books on Rizal, “Swatting the Spanish Fly,” and “Transcending Rizal,” have a lot of stories of Rizal as a regular visitor of Pangasinan and, for that matter, Dagupan, with blood relatives in Lingayen such as the Quintos family.
Rizal’s mother, as we all know, was Teodora Quintos Alonzo Mercado.
Juxtapose this with the hero’s family tree in Calamba, Laguna where he was born, and you’d get an idea of the heroic kindred-ship between the people of Laguna and Pangasinan.
In a similar vein Leonor Rivera, first cousin of Rizal and resident of Camiling, Tarlac, then a barrio of Bayambang, Pangasinan, and Dagupan was related to the Bengzons of Lingayen.
These interesting facts were discussed in lively detail at a Bombo Radyo program on Rizal Day last year, by panelists Arabelle Arcinue, Dindo Bengzon, radio anchor Bogs Toribio, and this writer in observance of Rizal’s birthday. (juanitomvelasco@yahoo.com/PN)
