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Bacolod City, Philippines Monday, November 5, 2012
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Neg. Occ. honoring five
outstanding Negrenses
BY
CARLA GOMEZ

A Cabinet secretary, a multi-awarded chef, a woman who has empowered others, a charity worker, and a palay seed grower are this year's five outstanding Negrenses.

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Juliano Soliman will be honored for public service, Antonio Agustin “Tony Boy” Montilla Escalante for culinary arts and business, Dr. Cecilia Dreyfus Del Castillo for women empowerment and microfinance, Araceli “Bukay” Garcia Ramos for community health service, and Romeo Reyes Belmonte for agriculture.

They will be honored by the Negros Occidental provincial government at the 114 th Cinco de Noviembre rites at the provincial Capitol Social Hall in Bacolod City at 5:30 p.m. today, in the presence of their families and the descendants of the heroes of the 1898 Cinco de Noviembre revolution.

Cinco de Noviembre, which is a public holiday in Negros Occidental, refers to the bloodless revolution staged on Nov. 5, 1898, by Negrense revolutionaries led by General Juan Araneta from Bago City and General Aniceto Lacson from Silay City.

The revolutionaries carried nipa stalks that looked like rifles and cannons that were bamboo mats painted black that deceived the Spaniards into surrendering.

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. yesterday called on Negrenses to emulate the heroism and ingenuity of Negros Occidental's heroes 114 years ago, who used their intelligence and ingenuity to outwit the Spaniards and win.

“Negrenses, 114 years ago, united in the battle against the Spaniards for freedom and love of country, let us continue what they started and work together to ensure progress for our people,” he said.

Today Negros is remembering its heroes of the past as well as honoring its modern day heroes, he also said.

The provincial government is honoring Soliman, whose grandparents are from the Cauayan town, for her achievement as an advocate of the social development agenda by implementing poverty alleviation programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or popularly known as the 4-Ps conditional cash transfer, the SEA-K livelihood enhancer and the community-driven KALAHI-CIDSS Project, through DSWD, the agency she leads, her citation from the Capitol states.

Escalante is a multi-awarded chef who started as a vegetable farm owner and now operates three popular high-end restaurants in Tagaytay. These are the Antonio's, Antonio's Breakfast and the Grill by Antonio. His establishments have been consistently rated among the top 20 restaurants in Asia since 2008 until this year by the Miele Guide, his citation states.

Del Castillo is being recognized as a frontrunner in empowering women to become independent entrepreneurs. For 28 years since she founded the Negros Women for Tomorrow Inc., in the province, it now has 56 branches nationwide employing about a thousand workers, and serving close to 200,000 beneficiaries, 98 percent of whom are women.

Ramos, also known as “Tita Bukay”, is being recognized for her charitable work through the Volunteers for the Handicapped and the Disabled Inc., which she helped organize 33 years ago. Ramos, through VRHD, has been extending free assistance to indigents, the blind, deaf, crippled, mentally retarded, those afflicted with down-syndrome, including the street children, her Capitol citation states .

Belmonte is a former carabao caretaker (“bakero”) and sugarcane worker who did not finish his primary education, but is now a successful palay seed grower. He started cultivating less than a hectare of land but is now the owner of more than 50 hectares of farm property in Valladolid, his Capitol citation states.

The day-long Cinco de Noviembre rites will start with a flag raising ceremony at 7:30 a.m.at the Provincial Capitol Park, to be attended by multi-sectoral representatives, with Marañon scheduled to deliver his Negros Day message.

The University of St. La Salle Masskara Theater Ensemble will depict the travails and triumphs of the 1898 Cinco de Noviembre revolution against the Spaniards in a tableau presentation, while the Negros Occidental High School CAT Ceremonial Troop and brass band will perform the Pass-in-Review. The Provincial Capitol Employees Choir will lead the prayer and the Pambansang to be followed by the Negros Hymn.

The turnover of more than P1 million in checks to deceased families of barangay officials and tanods, and farm implements under the Kabisig program will follow the program.

The Negros Occidental Negros Historical Council Inc. will also hold an on-the-spot poster-making contest at 9 a.m. at the Negros Occidental Multi-Purpose Activity Center.

At the awarding program, this afternoon, the USLS will perform a shadow play about the Cinco de Noviembre, while the West Negros University Kaanyag Pilipinas Dance Company and Rondalla will showcase Philippine folk dances. Also scheduled to perform are the La Carlota City Drumbeaters and the Provincial Choir that will sing the “Buglas“, the old name of Negros, to be capped by a loud bang of Bago City's Canyonistas.*CPG

 

 

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