LUCENA CITY, Quezon, (PNA) – Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto delivered today an inspiring and animated speech as the Guest of Honor at the celebration the 136th Birth Anniversary of former Commonwealth President Manuel Luis Quezon at ×Barangay Ilayang Dupay in this city.
Gov. Recto first expressed her gratitude for the warm welcome she received from the officials and barangay residents of Lucena City.
She paid homage to Quezon’s significant legacy that enabled the country to gain freedom from American occupation, as well as his being the father of the Tagalog language. She added that it is our responsibility to maintain this legacy and to instill to the present generation the love of country that Quezon imbibed.
Gov. Recto also encouraged the local officials led by Mayor Roderick “Dondon” Alcala and Vice-Mayor Philip Castillo to go back to basic in public service – that of giving the people the essential services, to alleviate poverty and give them equal opportunity to uplift their lives.
”We must know what problems our people are having and how to address them,” the petite lady governor told the audience, composed of public officials, DepEd people, barangay officials, civic leaders and students.
She cited as example her province, that although is not perfect, but they’re trying their very best to be a competitive province.
”Major bulk of our budget goes to education, health, infrastructure and peace and order. We allocated substantial fund to build 12 district hospitals, and we make it a point that our young people gets the best quality education. Our day care pupils get Montessori-type teachings to ensure they develop into competitive students.
We also give adequate support to maintain peace and order in the province, because a peaceful and orderly environment attracts investors. We also compromised with investors to prioritize Batanguenos as their employees and workers,” Gov. Recto explained.
As parting words, Gov. Recto quoted from an African proverb, “It takes a whole village to raise a child, “No matter how passionate I am, I can never do it alone,” she concluded.
The event culminated with the flower offering at the foot of Quezon’s life-size monument, participated in by different sectors in the city.