Negros Occidental mourns Marañon’s passing

Negros Occidental plunged into mourning Thursday night. The reason – their best loved governor, Joseph Marañon, finally succumbed to a prolonged liver ailment at his Sta. Clara home. He was surrounded by his family.

What made it worse for Negrenses was that they were aware that Joseph or 319, as he was commonly referred to, missed his 74th birthday on March 19.

Gov. Marañon will be succeeded by Vice Gov. Isidro Zayco. The latter was scheduled to take his oath at 8:30 a.m. yesterday at the provincial capitol.

Marañon’s chief of staff, Jose Valencia, said the immediate oath-taking was set to prevent a vacuum in the provincial leadership.

Marañon himself said from his sickbed last Jan. 24 that he was very happy with how Zayco was running the provincial government.

Just barely over a week ago, Zayco was in near tears when he recounted how he literally cried when he first heard rumors on the governor’s demise.

“When I saw how frail he was, I almost choked,” Zayco told me and members of the Negros Press Club.

Marañon was elected governor of Negros Occidental in 2001, 2004, and 2007. He was a three-term mayor of Sagay City from 1992 to 2000.

Although there had been several false reports of the governor’s demise since a few weeks ago, his passing Thursday night still threw a blanket of sadness among Negrenses who considered him as the best governor the province ever had.

Flag will fly half-mast starting today. His last appearance before mediamen was last Jan. 2 when he called for the support and cooperation of Negrenses for the priority programs of his government for 2008.

Marañon actually trusted that God would decide when he would go. The last time we had a talk, Zayco told me that he was literally in tears when he saw the frail governor.

“But he remained in high spirits,” was how he put it.

And that exactly was what endeared Marañon to his constituents. He was a sharp thinker. He used to wade through a lot of words to get to the ccore of the message brought to him. And, when he saw a good idea was doable, he did not hesitate to implement it.

Marañon was not fond of rhetorics. He was just a man without guile. He spoke out his mind and did not hesitate to make short shrift of rumormongers.

He is survived by his wife, Aida Lopez, and their three children – Sagay councilor Joseph Gerard, Ma. Lourdes Yupangco and Theresa Ledesma. His surviving brother is Sagay City Mayor Alfredo Marañon III and his sister, Sonia Sarreza.

The remains of Marañon will be in a closed casket at the Carmelite Monastery today. The body will later be transferred to the provincial capitol.

His remains will be brought to Sagay City either tomorrow or Monday. There he will be buried.

The governor’s family requested that flowers be omitted. Instead, they asked that the money be instead given to the Carmelite Monastery, and Balay Pag-asa of Bacolod, Donenodella Providenza Home in Pontevedra or any charitable institutions.

Marañon’s legacy is the refurbished provincial capitol, showcasing one of the country’s best architecture, and the Negros Museum. He also catapulted the former Mambukal Resort into a prime tourist destination that has earned millions of pesos for the province.

He is best known for his political will. He took the decision to eject the squatters from the provincial capitol’s sprawling lot and had them relocated to a resettlement area bought by the province, where most of them now live with enough livelihood to sustain their needs.

That per se was one of the most remarkable decisions by the governor. It helped solve a major problem of the squatters who had taken over the lot previously donated by the Gonzaga family to the province.

But he is best remembered for winning for Sagay the fame of having the best preserved marine sanctuary, which has attracted the attention of marine scientists.

Nobody had thought that a no-nonsense persona would end up as the most revered provincial leader of the province of Negros Occidental.

And to Marañon, my salute and that of my family.

Incidentally, he once told my daughter Mate: “If you are the daughter of Rolly, then I am your uncle.”

I am proud to be a Negrense under Marañon.

ADDENDUM. Although Negrenses were focused on the death of their governor, I got yesterday a faxed item from Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez which stated that 300 local government officials and private sector representatives of the province have signed a manifesto of support for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Gov. Perez said the manifesto demonstrated support for pro-GMA rallies in Manila.

“It is time to make a noise in the province, a noise of gratitude,” she stressed.

Gov. Perez added that “the economic advancements brought by the Arroyo administration will only be wasted if they allow themselves to be ruined by the unscrupulous few.”

An Antique businessman, said Perez, hailed GMA’s Ro-ro program as having helped Antique’s economy and showing Mrs. Arroyo being sensitive to the province’s needs. Then, there is the other point – GMA is the only President who has visited Antique.