Nation remembers Graciano Lopez-Jaena on Monday

Dublin, Ireland — All roads in Western Visayas converge on Monday in Jaro, Iloilo for the national commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Ilonggo national hero Graciano Lopez-Jaena.

Members of the national organizing council, headed by Education Secretary Jesli Lapus and National Historical Institute executive director Ludovico Badoy, will spearhead a group of national officials who will join the commemorative rites at the Jaro Plaza.

Regional officials have been invited to the affair by Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez, who chairs the Regional Development Council and the Western Visayas Cultural and Historical Council.

Officials of the Dr. Graciano Lopez-Jaena Foundation led by Dr. Juan Acanto, president of the Central Philippine University, will attend en masse to honor the Ilonggo hero.

From Iloilo, former Vice Gov. Demy Sonza, vice chairman of the Regional Cultural and Historical Council, will discuss some of the highlights of Lopez-Jaena’s career as the leading propagandist of Philippine Independence.

Worth special mention will be the big delegation of Lopez-Jaena descendants from Negros Occidental composed mostly by descendants from the side of Fermin Lopez, brother of Graciano’s father Placido.

They will be led by Max Lopez, Gilbert Hollero, Jose B. Lopez Jr., Romeo Lopez, Violeta Baniol, and several other well-known Lopez-Jaena descendants.

I have designated my daughter, Inday Espina-Varona, executive editor of The Manila Times, to represent our family, together with my youngest son, Jesus Espina.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued last June an administrative order directing the education department to prepare for the national celebration of Lopez-Jaena’s 150th birth anniversary.

The most affected by this tribute to Lopez-Jaena is 91-year-old Independencia H. Lopez. Tita Pen, as we call her, is the youngest of the children of Doroteo Lopez, the youngest brother of Graciano.

Ms. Lopez retired several years back as a nurse-matron of the Negros Occidental Provincial Hospital’s School of Nursing. She still sustains a sharp mind and is considered by most of us, her nephews and nieces, as a good writer. She was once a contributor to the Philippine Free Press.

"It’s about time the Filipino national pays Lopez-Jaena the tribute that he deserves as a national hero," was how Ms. Lopez reacted when I offered to bring her to the Iloilo commemoration rites.

The still clear-thinking Lopez-Jaena niece has this perceived neglect of the Ilonggo national hero in favor of Dr. Jose Rizal and Marcelo H. del Pilar.

But that neglect may have been corrected. Gov. Perez informed the Regional Historical and Cultural Council that the education department will spearhead activities encouraging schools to give honor to the national hero.

Several US-based descendants of Lopez-Jaena, led by Jess Lopez of Washington, DC, are arriving for the Christmas holidays and to prepare the groundwork for the clan’s reunion in Silay City in March 2007.

The affair will be hosted by descendants of Fermin and Eustaquio Lopez. The latter was the favorite first cousin of Graciano. Eustaquio actually bankrolled Graciano’s trip to Spain.

The Publishers Association of the Philippines Inc. (PAPI), led by its president, Juan Dayang, will hold a colloquium at the Bohol Tropics Beach Resort this weekend on Lopez-Jaena.

He invited me to discuss the economic ideas of the Ilonggo national hero (my grand uncle), but I had already completed my arrangements for my Dublin trip together with my daughter Maté to visit my son Rolando Jr. and his family.

Gangland execution

I had already made tentative arrangements to interview Filipinos here in Dublin on how they have been getting along.

Unfortunately, my initial attempt to interview a newly arrived girl from Zamboanga City got foiled when my daughter asked me to stop as she was clearly not comfortable to talk to journalists. Besides as a new arrival in Dublin, she could not, of course, share with me the insightful experiences which I had wanted.

Then the cold made me shiver. Winter clothes procured in Manila proved ineffective when the wind factor deepened the cold’s penetrating power.

Tuesday was when we ventured out of my son’s home. Jun-jun had bought me overcoats, scarfs and mittens, including a cap with ear muffs, and got me rubber shoes.

Then I spotted the headline story in the Evening Herald. It was in bold letters, occupying the entire front page.

It detailed the gangland execution of Marlo Hyland, Ireland’s alleged biggest drug dealer. The attack on Hyland also saw an innocent teenager "executed."

Hyland was only 39. He was shot four times in the head while napping in a bed at his niece’s house in Finglas.

Garda (the Irish police) said Hyland was reportedly considered the biggest drug supplier of heroin, cocaine and cannabis and had been involved in a serious of serious crimes for several years.

During the past year, because of pressure from authorities, his operation had lost 15 million euros worth of drugs due to seizures. Gardai said Hyland’s execution is suspected to have been ordered from behind bars by one of his rivals.

Police believed Hyland’s killer was paid 15,000 euros for the kill.

The other casualty was an 18-year-old plumber apprentice who was working on the pipes and was shot by the gunman first before he walked upstairs to execute Hyland.

The Irish Times, a broadsheet, also carried a story predicting more gangland killings following the Hyland murder.

Police were quoted as bracing for an escalation of gangland killings. Detectives said the killing was highly organized.

Indeed, Wednesday, another suspected drug dealer, Gerard "Boss" Bryne, 26, was shot dead outside one of the establishments at the International Financial Center. He was felled by five shots.

The footage captured the gunman firing two shots in Bryne’s head, two more in the body as Bryne was falling, and a final shot in the head.

Michael McDowell, the Justice Minister, was facing a major political battle as he tried to re-assert control over rising lawlessness.

And I thought Ireland was a peaceful country unlike the Philippines where assignations are a dime-a-dozen, but nobody gets fired for them.

Well, anyway, I have already gathered some insights into the experiences of Filipino expatriates here in Ireland.

But I’ll report that next time.