A Proud Moment For All He Mentors *
* A Testimonial speech for the Honorable Vice Governor Ronquillo C. Tolentino during the testimonial dinner in his honor held at the Centerpoint Building, Arch. G. Reyes Street, Kalibo, Aklan in the evening, June 16, 2006 on the occasion of the Golden Anniversary Celebration of the Aklan Press Club.
It is a great pleasure and pride to be invited and allowed to speak a few pieces in tribute and in honor of the man whom I consider to have played a great role in shaping my person, family, and career in government service, and most importantly, a career in the field of journalism.
Ronquillo "Kel" Conanan Tolentino, is a lawyer, public servant, a civic and political leader, parliamentarian and an outstanding Aklanon in the field of community journalism, now our honorable Vice Governor after having served Aklan as municipal councilor of the capital town of Kalibo and as Provincial Board Member of Aklan.
Such is the stature of a man being bestowed a rare honor tonight by his colleagues in the Aklan media, many of them went under his tutelage like me.
Many may ask how and when this great honoree this evening touched my life and helped shaped my career?
Kel Tolentino’s guiding intellect started to shape my career when I was yet in my college days during the late sixties and the early seventies. He was my mentor in religion, political science and news writing. That was the time when our honoree tonight started to play as my role model and to many other college students who passed under his tutelage.
He exemplified the best in campus leadership which transformed us to become campus leaders ourselves. I particularly, had been the president of the Liberal Arts Department and the ROTC corps commander during my senior year in college.
When he was the adviser of the Aklan College campus publication, the Aklan Collegian, he tried his best to sway us into writing. I did not become a staff member of his Aklan Collegian but his efforts in nurturing us to be a journalist bore results later in my life when writing became one of my family’s source of income.
Our honoree was once the charter president of the Aklan government appointed and designated information officer in the Local Government Units and various national and provincial government offices. When this organization went reorganization, I succeeded to become president, a position vacated by the honoree. When he relinquished the presidency of the Aklan Press and Radio Club, he anointed me to be his successor which was confirmed by the members themselves in an election held for the purpose with me unopposed to be the next President of this prestigious club.
While in government service, it was there where the honoree has further honed my journalistic skills. I went on to write for regional and national newspapers, as correspondent of the Philippine News Agency and later to become one of the correspondents of the Philippine Daily Inquirer for Aklan and Boracay. His stinging and stirring columns also inspired me to try writing columns, editorial pieces and feature stories. All the time, it was the honoree who pushed and inspired me to follow his journalistic footsteps.
Recognizing that a full-time career in writing may not be compensating particularly for locally-based journalists, and when the position of the secretary to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan was vacated due to the death of the incumbent, I became the first choice of the honorable Vice Governor Ronquillo C. Tolentino to fill the vacancy and that position I now owe for the lifetime from one of our great honorees tonight.
As role model, I may have failed to emulate many of what has been achieved by Vice Governor Kel Tolentino. He is a lawyer, I am not but I am his secretary to the Sanggunian which he now presides. He is a parliamentarian, be it in the streets or in the session halls. I am half a parliamentarian, sometimes in the streets during our younger days, but never in the session hall. Our honoree is an outstanding journalist, am still a budding journalist. Kel sought public positions and won. I sought public positions four times in the past and all the time, I lost.
However, tonight, is not only a proud moment for our honoree, for his wife Ellen, and daughters. This is also a proud moment for everyone he has mentored like me. Congratulations sir.
Good evening. /MP
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