Ex-Board Member Raul Ople dies

HAGONOY, Bulacan—Former Bulacan Senior Board Member Raul Ople, the third son of the late statesman Blas F. Ople passed away on Thursday afternoon. He is 59.

Susan Ople, the youngest sibling of Raul said that her brother died of lymphoma, a form of cancer, around 4:30 PM at the Lung Center of the Philippines.

She said that the former Board Member is surrounded by his family at the time of his death.

His remains lies in state at the Chapel C of the Christ the King Church in Quezon City.  Internment will be announced later.

He left his wife Dolores San Juan-Ople along with children Marc, Carlo, Danielle, and Faith; and grandchildren Scarlet and John Gabriel.

The former Senior Board Member also left his siblings namely Luis, Blas Jr., Dalisay, Felix, Dionisio and Susan.

As this third son of the late statesman and Senator Blas F. Ople of this town, Raul was elected as Board Member of the first district of Bulacan in the 1995 election.

As a senior Board Member, he also served as vice governor of the province of Bulacan when former Governor Roberto Pagdanganan took a leave of absence when he served as care taker of the first congressional district.

The remainder of his tenure was served by then Vice Governor Josie Dela Cruz.

As a provincial legislator, Raul pushed for further development of the province through resolutions.

In 1998, he lost in the gubernatorial race against Dela Cruz who served as governor until 2007.

In the 2001 elections, Raul ran for the first congressional district of the province pushing for the creation of a economic zone in the province but lost to then Rep.Wilhelmino Alvarado who is now seeking his first reelection as governor of Bulacan.  Dino Balabo

Cabanas' call center to generate hundreds of jobs

MALOLOS CITY—Hundreds of jobs are expected to be generated by P60-Million facility that will house call center was inaugurated here on February 21.

Victoria Bustos, the President of the Dona Rita Realty Corporation (DRRC) said the four storey North Wing 4 (N4) Building will host a call center along with commercial offices for banks and others business establishments.

Located at the Cabanas garden mall here, the N4 building was first designed as a three storey facility.

But it was expanded to four after local businessmen offered to rent its top floor for call center operations.

“It will easily generate hundreds of jobs to Bulakenyos,” said Governor Wilhelmino Alvarado who led the soft launching of the N4.

He said that increasing investments in the province is one of the signs of rising confidence of investors to the government.

Alvarado also hailed the DRRC which is being operated by children Donato and Margarita Santiago who founded the Bulacan Garden Corporation in the lat 1950s.

Citing accomplishments of the company, the governor described the DRRC as a catalyst in local development.

As a pioneer in local real estate development, Alvarado said that the Santiago family has greatly contributed to the province’s development.

This is through the construction of class A and Class B residential subdivisions here and in the town of Calumpit since the late 80s when members of the Santiago family decided to diversify their business interest from landscaping business of the Bulacan Garden Corporation.

The latest business venture of the DRRC is the Cabanas garden mall, a premier commercial center in this city which opened five years ago.

For her part, Fely Rodrigo, the Vice President of the DRRC said that investing in Bulacan is partly in compliance to their father’s advise.

She said that their father Donato Santiago reminded them to invest in Bulacan to provide jobs and spearhead development.

“Our fathers told us many times that business is now just about earning money but about helping others,” she said.  Dino Balabo

Suspended mayor dares Mar Roxas, DILG

Mayor Feliciano Legazpi, MD.

MALOLOS CITY—Interior and Local Government officials led by Secretary Mar Roxas and Central Luzon Director Florida Dijan were dared by the mayor of Norzagaray in Bulacan to fix problems they caused.

Some of the problems include lack of municipal fund especially for salary of employees in the last two months, funds for operation of the municipal government and continuing tension in town.

The problems stemmed from suspension of Mayor Feliciano Legazpi based on the resolution issued by the Ombudsman last November with regards abused of authority charge filed by the Municipal Budget Officer Yolanda Ervas against the mayor.

“They should come here and fix the problems they caused,” Legazpi said in a telephone interview referring to Roxas and Dijan.

He said that Dijan issued a suspension order for six month and one day against him last December, but he never received a copy.

A copy of the said order was secured by Vice Rogelio Santos who furnished the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) along with copy of his oath of office as acting mayor.

As a result, LBP stopped releasing Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) to the Municipal Government of Norzagaray.

“We cannot withdraw from our funds and our employees have not receive their salary in more than two months, not to mention that we don’t have fund for the delivery of social services,” Legazpi said.

He insisted that order issued by Dijan last December is premature and stressed that the Ombudsman decision allowed him for automatic appeal by filing a motion for reconsideration.

Legazpi also vowed that he will step down from office of the DILG will be able to prove that he is already suspended.

He also said that since the election period officially started last January, there is a pre-existing order not to remove local officials from office.

“They must not turn a deaf ear on us, they cause this problem and the people of Norzagaray are suffering, they should be the ones to fix it,” Legazpi stressed.  Dino Balabo