October 29 will be known as Senator Rodolfo T. Ganzon Memorial Day, as declared by Iloilo City Council in commemoration of death anniversary of the late Ilonggo senator.
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| Late Senator ‘Roding’ Ganzon. Credits: ilongo.weebly.com |
Iloilo City Council has unanimously passed an ordinance authored by city councilor Nielex Tupas, which will also rename a memorial circle built in 2005 in front of the Iloilo City Community College in Molo district as the Rodolfo T. Ganzon Memorial Circle.
Another ordinance will also rename the Technical Institute of Iloilo City (TIIC) as the Senator Rodolfo T. Ganzon School.
Tupas said the late senator, who died in 2003, was an iconic legislator and local chief executive who brought Iloilo City to greater heights during his time. Ganzon was a city mayor, congressman of the second district of Iloilo that includes Iloilo City and a senator of the Republic of the Philippines. He was also appointed Presidential Assistant for the Visayas during the Presidency of now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.
The late colorful Ilonggo senator was dubbed as the “Stormy Petrel of the South” by his senator peers and was responsible for many major infrastructures in the city including the Gen Luna span known as the first highway in Iloilo City.
Well loved by his supporters, Ganzon organized his own Timawa Party as a political front to combat traditional politicians of his time and succeeded in using the poor politically against the rich and business with vested interest.
He died in 2003 after a lingering illness but his legacy lives on until today as the urban poor always refer to him as their champion. By Lydia C. Pendon
