SHE WOULD have been a diamond girl, at 70, this
Jan. 24. But she has been up there in the bosom of the Lord since Nov. 9, 2010.
Although her performance as long-serving member of
the provincial board is well-known, but a few of the Capampangans knew that se
once served as their governor.
Edna de Ausen-David’s legacy of public servanthood
lives in her children, Board Member Fritzie David-Dizon and Porac Vice Mayor
Dexter Albert David.
Here’s but a sketch I drew about her in July 2009
that eventually served as my eulogy for her.
“WITH
UTMOST dedication and efficiency,” she served Pampanga as its acting governor
from January to July 1999, and gave “merit to her office and honor to the
province.”
So read the Certificate of Recognition the provincial government handed to
Board Member Edna de Ausen-David last Wednesday.
“Atsing Edna has been one of the most visible figures in public governance and we are honored to have her today as one of our previous governors even though it was only for a brief time.”
So hailed Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio of my ninang.
By operation of law, then Senior Board Member David took the reins of the Capitol after the Ombudsman’s preventive suspension of Gov. Lito Lapid and Vice Gov. Clayton Olalia over the quarry scam.
It was no walk in the park for Governor Edna. My Zona Libre column titled Let her be in The Voice, February 21-27, 1999 issue had this to say in part:
EDNA de Ausen-David is but a stop-gap fixture at the Capitol. Hers is but a transition governance. Fixed at six months. Unless something really damning to the suspendidong magka-kosa of Gov. Lito Lapid and Vice Gov. Clayton Olalia crops up.
But already Edna de Ausen-David is the object of a propaganda campaign which vile and venom make the bitterest election campaign like a romp through the bush.
The flak makes one conclude that overnight, Edna de Ausen-David has become not only gubernatorial timber but the very “man to beat” for governor.
Inadvertently, these propagandistang pulpol have achieved the very opposite of what they set out to accomplish. Instead of demolishing Aling Edna, they even raised her political stock.
Already, Aling Edna enjoys the full support of the Pampanga mayors. Of all but one.
Already, Aling Edna has been hailed as “a woman with balls of iron” with her singular devotion to pursue President Estrada’s uncompromising line against drug trafficking with her creation of an anti-drug and anti-illegal gambling task forces.
Already, NGO groups and the top religious leaders of the province have manifested their full support to the David administration. Their prayers too.
With the so-called Voltes V group of Mayors Benny Espino of Arayat, Jun Canlas of Bacolor and Frank Ocampo of Sta. Rita, and Board Members Rosve Henson who served as vice governor, and Dinan Labung forming her formidable core group, it was during Governor Edna’s short term that the seeds of the Central Luzon drug rehabilitation center in Magalang germinated.
In another column, Tailspin in the Angeles Observer issue of November 20-26, 1999, I wrote:
AT the recent medical-dental mission of Fil-Am doctors from Panhandle, Florida, USA held at the Bulaon Resettlement, former Gov. Estelito P. Mendoza lauded BM Edna de Ausen-David for working for the completion of the Rodriguez District Hospital at the site.
Before a throng of cabalens, Apung Titong reminded everybody that it was at the time of Gov. Edna de Ausen-David that the hospital became truly deserving of its name.
It was not lost on the people at the occasion that Apung Titong’s testimonial to Aling Edna was uttered in the presence of the returned Gov. Lito Lapid. If that’s not one pitik at the Bida, I don’t know what is...
...Aling Edna also received some accolades from the officials of San Simon town.
Azor Sitchon’s people take pride in pointing out that the fence around the town hall was constructed with funds extended by Governor Edna.
“Sa kokonting panahon ng panunungkulan ni Governor Edna, totoong marami siyang napagawa at natulungan. Hindi kamukha ng iba diyan. Maraming nagawa hindi para sa bayan kundi sa sarili lamang,” so said a San Simon official.
Yeah, Governor Edna de Ausen-David deserves her own niche at the Capitol.
“Atsing Edna has been one of the most visible figures in public governance and we are honored to have her today as one of our previous governors even though it was only for a brief time.”
So hailed Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio of my ninang.
By operation of law, then Senior Board Member David took the reins of the Capitol after the Ombudsman’s preventive suspension of Gov. Lito Lapid and Vice Gov. Clayton Olalia over the quarry scam.
It was no walk in the park for Governor Edna. My Zona Libre column titled Let her be in The Voice, February 21-27, 1999 issue had this to say in part:
EDNA de Ausen-David is but a stop-gap fixture at the Capitol. Hers is but a transition governance. Fixed at six months. Unless something really damning to the suspendidong magka-kosa of Gov. Lito Lapid and Vice Gov. Clayton Olalia crops up.
But already Edna de Ausen-David is the object of a propaganda campaign which vile and venom make the bitterest election campaign like a romp through the bush.
The flak makes one conclude that overnight, Edna de Ausen-David has become not only gubernatorial timber but the very “man to beat” for governor.
Inadvertently, these propagandistang pulpol have achieved the very opposite of what they set out to accomplish. Instead of demolishing Aling Edna, they even raised her political stock.
Already, Aling Edna enjoys the full support of the Pampanga mayors. Of all but one.
Already, Aling Edna has been hailed as “a woman with balls of iron” with her singular devotion to pursue President Estrada’s uncompromising line against drug trafficking with her creation of an anti-drug and anti-illegal gambling task forces.
Already, NGO groups and the top religious leaders of the province have manifested their full support to the David administration. Their prayers too.
With the so-called Voltes V group of Mayors Benny Espino of Arayat, Jun Canlas of Bacolor and Frank Ocampo of Sta. Rita, and Board Members Rosve Henson who served as vice governor, and Dinan Labung forming her formidable core group, it was during Governor Edna’s short term that the seeds of the Central Luzon drug rehabilitation center in Magalang germinated.
In another column, Tailspin in the Angeles Observer issue of November 20-26, 1999, I wrote:
AT the recent medical-dental mission of Fil-Am doctors from Panhandle, Florida, USA held at the Bulaon Resettlement, former Gov. Estelito P. Mendoza lauded BM Edna de Ausen-David for working for the completion of the Rodriguez District Hospital at the site.
Before a throng of cabalens, Apung Titong reminded everybody that it was at the time of Gov. Edna de Ausen-David that the hospital became truly deserving of its name.
It was not lost on the people at the occasion that Apung Titong’s testimonial to Aling Edna was uttered in the presence of the returned Gov. Lito Lapid. If that’s not one pitik at the Bida, I don’t know what is...
...Aling Edna also received some accolades from the officials of San Simon town.
Azor Sitchon’s people take pride in pointing out that the fence around the town hall was constructed with funds extended by Governor Edna.
“Sa kokonting panahon ng panunungkulan ni Governor Edna, totoong marami siyang napagawa at natulungan. Hindi kamukha ng iba diyan. Maraming nagawa hindi para sa bayan kundi sa sarili lamang,” so said a San Simon official.
Yeah, Governor Edna de Ausen-David deserves her own niche at the Capitol.
IN
NOVEMBER, 2013 the governorship of Atsing
Edna found that niche with its brass
plate unveiled at the Capitol hallway, alongside those of the other governors
and the sangguniang panlalawigan that served, from the martial law period to
the present.
No mere historical
footnote her “term” there, given the historical precedent of her assumption –
the first ever, and so far only, suspension of a sitting Pampanga governor –
Lito Lapid – for graft and corruption.
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