Good evening everyone. Congratulations to the royal court:
Queen Aida, Princess Pat and Princess Evelyn. It is a great pleasure to be here with all of you.
We have a special speaker tonight and let me have you get more acquainted with him. Of course
he speaks Ilocano since he was born in San Fernando, La Union. He is the son of Mrs. Victorina Vergara
Mendoza and the late Mr. Manuel Mendoza. One of his many great accomplishments is raising a
beautiful and successful family. He is married to the former Miss Zoraida Palogan who hails from
Palanan, Isabela and whose presence graces our occasion tonight. He is blessed with three very
intelligent and talented children: Chelo who is now a licensed chemist, graduated from the University of
the Philippines; Celeste who is about to obtain her civil engineering degree from Mapua; and Juan Paolo
who is seeking his Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology at Saint Louis University.
Our guest speaker spent his elementary school years attending Christ
the King College in San Fernando then moved to Metro Manila for his secondary school education.
Most of us do not realize this but apparently University of the East in Caloocan City has a high school.
And that is where he spent most of his teenage years polishing his Tagalog speaking skills.
Then he went on to attend the oldest university in Asia, University of Santo Tomas Manila,
where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and learned a little bit of
Latin and Spanish.
After graduating from college, he decided to head back to
Ilocandia to seek his destiny and to perfect his Ilocano. Along the national highway, you would
see the fruits of his endeavors. When you enter San Esteban coming from America, the first thing
you see is the San Esteban Welcome Marker, a legacy which was made possible by his able
leadership working with the Senior Citizens of San Esteban. As an industrial engineer, various
landmarks that he is managing or has managed dot the side of the national highway. There is the
San Esteban Fiberglass Plant in beautiful Barangay San Pablo. And if you keep driving north,
you will pass a notable tourist destination, Bagong Lipunan Lodge in Narvacan and the Multiline
Food Processing Plant in Santa, Ilocos Sur. He was also a project manager for SATRAP Construction.
SATRAP spelled backwards is PARTAS, the famous Ilocano bus line. So you should know who his boss
was which undoubtedly will be in Philippine history books, Governor Chavit Singson.
His destiny brought him back to San Esteban. In 2001 he was
elected Vice Mayor. His managerial skills were put to good use to help the town develop to
face the new millennium. He set in motion the proper procedures in legislation and designed
the present set up of the session hall. And if you have been visiting the San Esteban website
in the Internet, you would access the town’s first promotional brochure that he authored titled
“Glimpse of San Esteban.” Committed to making the town successful, he collaborated with the
Youth Council and the Mayor in establishing the Board of the Municipal Scholarship Fund.
And one of his most recent initiatives is bringing to San Esteban an organization from
Canada called Sleeping Children Around the World. This benevolent organization distributed
sleeping kits amounting to 500,000 pesos making 500 children of San Esteban real happy!
Our guest speaker is well traveled. He has visited various
places such as Israel, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada,
Mexico, and of course Terra Bella. This must be one of his favorite places since he is here
with us again for the second time enjoying his company.
Without much further adieu, it is my honor and privilege to
present to you our distinguished guest speaker, who came halfway around the world to be with
us tonight, Honorable Vice Mayor Norman Vergara Mendoza. Please let’s give him a warm welcome.
