AKLANONS PAY TRIBUTE TO VETERAN AND PIONEERING BROADCASTER by ODON S. BANDIOLA

AKLANONS PAY TRIBUTE TO VETERAN AND PIONEERING BROADCASTER 

by ODON S. BANDIOLA

The 16th Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan is set to honor the memories of the late Ebenezer “Ben” G. Torre, Sr. who died on April 9, 2015 at the age of 80.  

The memorial mass and necrological services will be held at the Gov. Augusto B. Legaspi Memorial Sports Cultural Center starting at 10:00 o’clock in the morning on April 23 prior to the transfer of the remains to the St. John the Baptist Cathedral in the afternoon and interment at the Kalibo Municipal Cemetery. 

Political and media personalities in the Province of Aklan will take turns in paying tribute to a man popularly known as “Nong Ben” to many like incumbent Vice Governor Gabrielle V. Calizo-Quimpo, a Regular Presiding Officer of the Aklan Sangguniang Panlalawigan, herself a journalist; former Vice Governor Ronquillo “Kel” C. Tolentino, a veteran journalist who is the past president of the Aklan Press and Radio Club, Inc. and past president of the Aklan Government Public Information Officers Association; Mr. Juan P. Dayang, president of the Publishers Association of the Philippines and past president of the Aklan Press and Radio Club and its founder; Engr. Roger M. Esto, Provincial Planning and Development Coordinator and former broadcaster of IBC-DYRG; Atty. Santiago Regalado, former Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member for several terms and former IBC-DYRG broadcaster; and, Dr. Ambrosio R. Villorente, past president of the Aklan Press Club and publisher of Madyaas Pen.  

Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member Plaridel M. Morania for several terms will read the SP Resolution No. 111, Series of 2015 expressing condolences to the bereaved family of the late Ebenezer G. Torre, Sr. passed during the 13th Regular Session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan on April 15, 2015.

Ben Torre was the station manager of RMN-DYKR during the decades of the 70’s and the 80’s who popularized a morning public affairs program “Palibot-libot sa Akean” and the amateur singing show every Tuesday evening in the Kalibo Public Plaza dubbed as the “Da-ean sa Kadunggadan”.

Ben Torre was popularly elected as Sangguniang Bayan Member of the capital town of Kalibo for the term from 1980 to 1987 and as Member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan for the term from 1988 to 1992.   

Ben Torre was still a broadcaster when “the reign of terror” dominated Aklan early in the 1980’s and the veteran and pioneering broadcaster risked his life in defense of peace and order through the airwaves.  

The then charismatic Ben Torre developed and built a throng of supporters and sympathizers as a broadcaster particularly appealing to a mass audience which catapulted him to political achievements as elected local legislator both in Kalibo and in Aklan. /MP