Journal
of the
House of Representatives
FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
2008-2009
NECROLOGICAL SERVICE FOR
HON. VICTOR R. SUMULONG
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Prepared by the
JOURNAL SERVICE
Plenary Affairs Bureau
NECROLOGICAL SERVICES
FOR THE LATE REPRESENTATIVE
VICTOR R. SUMULONG
OF THE SECOND DISTRICT OF ANTIPOLO CITY
Thursday, January 8, 2009
At 3:37 p.m., the honorable Speaker Prospero C.
Nograles Jr. presiding the necrological services for
his schoolmate at the Ateneo, and our former
colleague in the in the Eleventh, Twelfth and
Thirteenth Congresses, the late Honorable Victor R.
Sumulong, whose remains lay in state in the Session
Hall of the House of Representatives, with Member of
the House in attendance.
The Secretary General of the House acted as
ceremonial officer during the necrological services.
NEARER MY GOD TO THEE - The PNP
Band
- Mason
THE SPEAKER. The necrological services in
honor of the late Honorable Victor R. Sumulong,
Representative of the Second District of Antipoloy
City will now begin.
The Secretary General will read the order of
services.
The following was the order of Proceedings.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL. Order of
proceedings of the necrological services for the late
Honorable Victor R. Sumulong.
PROGRAMME
IN MEMORIAM
THE PNP BAND
- Buenaventura
Buenaventura’s “In Memoriam” to be played by
the Philippine National Police Band.
The Philippine National Police Band played “In
Memoriam” by Buenaventura.
INVOCATION
Honorable Adelina Rodriguez-Zaldarriaga
Hindi Kita Malilimutan
- Atty. Dot Gancayco
by: Manuel Francisco
THE SECRETARY GENERAL. Invocation to be
led by the honorable Adelina Rodriguez-Zaldarriaga,
Representative of the Second District of Rizal.
May we request everybody to please rise.
EULOGY
Everybody rose for the Invocation.
Honorable Eduardo C. Zialcita
Honorable Ronaldo V. Puno
Honorable Deputy Speaker Amelita C.
Villarosa
THE PRAYER - Mr. Babes Maballo and Ms.
Sarah Moscosa
INVOCATION BY
REPRESENTATIVE ADELINA
RODRIGUEZ-ZALDARRIAGA
Precious heavenly Father, we praise and worship
You because You are sovereign and You are in
control of all circumstances.
by Carole Bayer Sager
RESPONSE
- Mr. Lorenzo R. Sumulong Jr.
MEMENTO OFFERING TO
REAVED FAMILY
THE
BE-
We give You the highest praise, honor and
adoration.
God, we ask You for Your awesome and mighty
presence in our midst as we come in sorrow and grief
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JANUARY 8, 2009
because of the death of our dear colleague and Your
faithful servant, Victor Sumulong.
Lord, in this time of mourning for the sudden
death of our beloved colleague, Vic, we are all here
in submission to Your holy will.
We pray that we may be able to comprehend
Your will upon each one of us especially upon the
life of our dear friend.
We also pray for comfort, peace and strength for
all his loved ones especially the members of his
family. Make them strong, O Lord, in this time of
grief and sadness. Let Your mercy, grace and loving
kindness abound in their lives.
Also, Lord, may each one of us here who are still
alive be reminded that death is an appointment and
only You know when the appointed time is for each
of us; that life on earth is short and like a smoke, it
shall soon disappear.
That is why, O Lord, we ask that You teach us to
fix our hearts and minds on You so that we may
spend our life the best we can, to please You as our
Creator, who will judge and ask for an accounting of
our life after.
Also, Lord, open our eyes that we may come to
know Your Son, Jesus Christ, the only way to eternal
life and to be faithful to him until the end.
Lord, may the legacy of our beloved, Vic, be
remembered as a blessing and inspiration to his
colleagues, his constituents and his family. May his
goodness, kindness and untiring effort in serving the
country serve as a beacon of hope to everyone.
All these we ask in the wonderful name of our
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL. Before we have
the eulogy of Rep. Zialcita, Atty. Dot Gancayco will
sing “Hindi Kita Malilimutan” by Manuel Francisco.
Atty. Dot Gancayco sang
Malilimutan” by Manuel Francisco.
“Hindi
Kita
THE SECRETARY GENERAL. Eulogy by the
honorable Eduardo C. Zialcita, Representative from
the First District of Parañaque City.
EULOGY BY
REPRESENTATIVE EDUARDO C.
ZIALCITA
First District, Parañaque City
To the family of the late Congressman, Mayor
Vic Sumulong, my colleagues in Congress, friends,
ladies and gentlemen.
Vic and I met many, many years ago. I do not
remember the exact date, but I am talking of 40 years
ago. I was in high school, he was in college. I had a
band and he had a band. We loved music. He would
play his electrifying lead guitar and I would sing and
play my bongos. It was all casual at that time.We
never really got to know each other very well until
many years later. Fast forward University of the
Philippines (UP), 1968. Vic Sumulong was a
distinguished councilor of the UP student council, I
was a freshman. He was outstanding. He was a
brilliant scholar, a brilliant student. Many of us
thought that maybe he should have become president
of the UP student council but that never happened.
We sang a couple of times together, we jammed in
his guitar, me and my bongos; and his Marlboro reds
and me and my Marlboro lights. Fast forward, Ramos
time. He was very close to President Fidel V. Ramos.
He was with him from day one and so was I.
But when President Ramos won that time, he
could have asked for anything under the sun but he
chose this virtually unknown agency called the
Marilaque. I do not know if some of you even heard
of that. It stands for Marikina, Rizal, Laguna and
Quezon. Vic had a dream. He wanted to integrate the
entire Marikina, Rizal, Laguna and Quezon
Provinces. Can you imagine how difficult that is.
One province alone will give you a million problems
and he wanted to integrate them. And he was so
passionate. He was so committed to this idea. I met
him, I was then consultant for the Housing and Urban
Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), and a
director of the Pagtutulungan sa kinabukasan:
Ikaw, Bangko, Industriya at Gobyerno (PagIBIG). We talked dozen hours of time debating; first,
whether it was possible; second, whether it was
practical. He could not care less. He just said, that is
got to be integrated, that is the way of the future. We
are going to open finally the eastern corridors of
Metro Manila which is lacking up to this very
moment. I do not know whatever happened to that
plan. But that was his dream, that was his vision, and
that was his commitment and that was his passion. I
forgot all about Marilaque until today.
I remembered, he chose to serve in a very simple,
humble way because he was committed to a vision
JANUARY 8, 2009
and there was no letup in that passion of his because
I had endless debates about that idea. We sang, we
jammed together and his Marlboro reds, and mine
and my Marlboro lights. Fast forward President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s time. I was elected for
the first time while Congressman Vic Sumulong for
the second time. I wanted to redistrict my city into
two. He wanted to redistrict Antipolo into two. We
worked together but I learned from Vic Sumulong.
He taught me everything about redistricting, about
local governments, about bureaucracy.
Silently and quietly, he was my guide, he was my
mentor and I was able to divide my city into two and
so was Vic Sumulong able to divide his. But I got to
know the real man whom I have admired up to this
very moment when we worked together on another
dream bill, another vision of mine and his. Finally,
we were not only singing and jamming and smoking
like we always did. But this time we were presenting
to Congress what we felt at that time was a long term
solution for the aching problems of housing in this
country. And that was the creation of the Department
of Housing and Urban Development. That was not
my creation alone, it was the creation of many of us,
including our distinguished Speaker, it was also his
baby. But we got to the floor and Roger Evangelista
knows this, when the debates became more difficult
and harsher, Vic Sumulong was standing for us,
fighting for the bill that he authored with us.
I was the housing man, he was the expert in
legal, how the bureaucracy works and he debated
ferociously and assiduously, if I may say so. But that
was not the end of it. We got it passed on the floor,
but we never made it to the Senate. His dream is still
there and we are committing to make that dream
come true.
But what really is Vic’s dream? And when he
first discussed this with me, I almost choked. I said,
You must be kidding, Vic. He said, No, I am not
kidding, Ed. I want to reengineer the entire
government of the Republic of the Philippines. Can
you imagine that? One Congressman, one solitary
soul from Antipolo wanted to reengineer the whole
government of the Republic of the Philippines. That
was his dream. That was his passion.
So today, I dedicate my eulogy to Vic, with a
little footnote that, your dreams may not have
become real, but your dreams live forever. Many of
us will continue to fight for those dreams, and no
matter how impossible those dreams are, because you
started it, you believed in it, and you helped us fight
for it, we shall continue to fight for those dreams.
And no matter how impossible those dreams are, we
are going to make those dreams come true someday.
3
In your memory, the impossible dreams are dreams
that can become possible.
For as long as we believe in those dreams, even
if the obstacles are there, we will continue to fight for
those dreams.
Rep. Eduardo C. Zialcita sang .The Impossible
Dream.
Everybody rose when Rep. Zialcita started to
sing.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL. Eulogy by the
Hon. Ronaldo V. Puno, Secretary of the Department
of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
EULOGY BY
SECRETARY RONALDO V. PUNO
Secretary of Department of Interior and Local
Government
Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues of the
Thirteenth Congress, honorable Representatives of
the Fourteenth Congress. Before anything else, we
would like to thank all of you for receiving the
necrological service this afternoon, our colleague and
friend from the City of Antipolo. I have spent a
lifetime with Congressman Vic Sumulong. We were
young high school students together, we were even
classmates in college then. We worked together in
most of our endeavors in our professional life. We
were together in the Department of the Interior and
Local Government and Ican say very truthfully that
Vic Sumulong was the angel on my shoulder for all
of my professional life. There are no words to
express, of course, the grief that I feel over his
passing, nor the gratitude that is in my heart for
everything that he has done for me.
Our political experience with each other started
by competing for the same position in the student
council in our second year of college. So, we actually
ran against each other. And in the succeeding year,
we ran again for different positions in the student
council from different parties. In the first one, I won
as secretary of the student council; on the second one
I Iost for the presidency, he won for the vice
presidency of the student council. He was vicepresident for external affairs of the Ateneo University
then. And I was very quietly just digesting the last
years of my college when he came to me with an
impossible idea. He said, You know the National
Union of Students is an organization composed
of all student councils throughout the country and
Ateneo has never had a president in that
organization. It is always run by the University of the
4
Philippines students, it is run by lawyers or law
students.He said, Why don’t we take a shot at it? And
I said, You’re insane, you know, we have a lot to do,
we are still, you know, very busy with our school. I
said, How are we going to compete against lawyers?
He said, You are a good debater, because I happened
to be in the debating team of our college then. And I
said, But that is not enough, I don’t know anything
about it, you know, my biggest accomplishment is
losing the last election I just joined. So, how are we
supposed to do this? He said, Never mind, I will take
care of it.
So, in the next few months, Vic and I traveled all
over the country, talking to the student council
presidents in all parts of the country. We, basically,
wore his car down to the ground because we were
constantly going everywhere. And together with the
late Freddie Salangga who was also our close friend,
we spent night after night, after night working on this
thing until three months later, to my surprise, I began
to see the numbers improving. And I said: .You
know, maybe, you are not so insane after all. Maybe
something is going to come out of this. He said: .No.
Definitely, something will come out of this. Well, as
Vic’s plan would have it, we did win the presidency
of the National Union of Students that year with a
vote, I believe, of something like 40 for us and five
against us, and it led to an era when Ateneo became
very active in the National Union of Students. I was,
of course, followed two years later by the late Edgar
Jopson who was a better student leader than I was.
But that is the first of many experiences in my life
where Vic gave to me on a silver platter things that
other people dream about. We are here in the House
of Representatives, a house that Vic Sumulong truly
cherished and truly loved. He told me very often, the
best job in the world, he said, .is to be a
Congressman in this House of Representatives. I
said, Talaga? Why not Senator? Why not go
somewhere else? He said, No. The best job is to be a
Congressman for your district. And then I said: Well,
that’s fine but you know, I don’t think I’ll ever be a
Congressman.
In 1998, he ran for Congress for the first time. I
helped then Vice-President Estrada in his campaign
for the presidency. But we talked often. We talked a
lot because whenever we talked politics, Vic and I
had endless conversations. And what the people do
not realize is that in those conversations, I was the
student. Vic was the teacher. He always had the most
pragmatic approach to things. I am by nature
impulsive and sometimes tend to do things that are
not really timely, things that people find difficult to
understand. Vic was different. Vic had a way of not
doing anything and yet getting things done.
JANUARY 8, 2009
He would just by suggestion be able to convince
people. And true enough, the short period that I spent
here at the House were some of the best years of my
professional life and my service in government. I
have been in the Department of the Interior and
Local Government for the longest time. Vic and I had
been together for eight years from 1974 to 1982. I
moved to the Department of Transportation and
Communications (DOTC). He stayed in the DILG.
But we have stayed in close communication through
all these years, through all our official assignments
together.
We were always in constant touch. I always
knew what he was doing. He always knew what I
was doing. What people do not know is most of the
things that I was talking about, most of the things
that I was actually doing were actually at the instance
of Vic. My entry into the Department of the Interior
and Local Government was the doing of Vic.
Because I was a businessman at that time and we
happened to be friends of Secretary Jose Roño, it was
Vic who suggested that I join the department. I said,
No, I’m not going to do it. He says, .No, you go
ahead and do it. You join and then I will join you. So,
I said, walang indiyanan iyan. Wala. So, I joined the
department as a head executive assistant. Six months
later, I was appointed assistant secretary and then Vic
joined me and became assistant secretary as well, and
we stayed together in that department for the entire
time. And during the time of President Cory Aquino,
when I actually went to the United States, Vic still
did not let go of me.
He kept in touch. Every time I would come to
Manila, he would try to talk to me about his activities
in the various assignments that he had during the
Cory administration, and I told him: Pare, iba na
iyong mundo ko. I now live in the United States. I
am a real estate developer. I have different concerns,
you know, but I appreciate what you are doing and I
admire you for it. But I guess, his influence was so
large that when the elections of 1992 came and
President Ramos left the Laban ng Demokratikong
Pilipino (LDP) to run for president with only two
Congressmen, Vic Sumulong and Gabby Claudio in
the secretariat, and then, of course, President Cory
Aquino behind him, President Ramos then proceeded
to undertake a campaign that eventually led to
victory. Vic called me sometime in February and told
me, Baka, hindi ka tinatamad diyan, balik ka muna
rito sa Pilipinas. Tingnan mo iyong ginagawa namin.
I said, well, okay, I think I can take a break. I’ll go
there for a couple of weeks. So, I came back to the
Philippines in February. He talked to me about the
campaign, explained to me their situation, all of their
problems. And he said, .What do you think we should
do? I made some suggestions. Pare, ganito yan, eh.
JANUARY 8, 2009
Ito siguro ang gawin natin 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Then, he said,
Great! Sabi niya, Halika, may kakausapin lang tayo.
He brought me to Secretary Jose Almonte, later on
the National Security Adviser, and asked me to repeat
what I said and I already sensed that Boy, this guy is
drawing me into this thing again . So, I made the
same presentation to Secretary Almonte.
Then, he said, you have to meet President
Ramos. I said, why? Well, because, you know, you
have to explain this to him. Why? You can go ahead
and explain it to him yourself. No. But we cannot
explain it the way you will explain it. So, of course, I
knew by that time Vic had finagled me again into
another assignment. So, I met with President Ramos
on March 3 of 1992, explained to him what I was
talking about and he said, .Well, thank you, thank
you, for joining us and I hope you will be successful
in everything you are doing. And I looked at Vic. I
said, joining what?
To make a long story short, we had a very large
cold bottle of scotch that evening until he finally got
me to say, Okay, well, all right, I am going to stay
until after the campaign and tulungan na lang kita
riyan.
And in the weeks that followed, we met local
government official after local government official.
We met so many people including, by the way, Jo
Villarosa. I think you will remember that we talked to
him in the now infamous Sulu Hotel where people
thought we were doing nothing except planning to
cheat, but basically, we were doing a huge,
convincing exercise based on tactical and strategic
allies that Vic felt were necessary for President
Ramos to win that contest. And so, faith would have
it. President Ramos did win and I was on my way
back to Virginia on the suburbs of Washington D.C.
And then, he called me again. He said, you know, I
am going to take care of some sectors here. Maybe,
you can help me do the preliminary planning. So, I
said, .Okay, sige. Balik na naman ako. So, we did
some work. Then, he said, .By the way, I got you a
job. I said, I have a job? No, I got you one that is
parttime lang ito, pare. You can go back to the States.
Pabalik-balik ka lang dito. It will give you an excuse
to come back here and just keep abreast of things.
Kako, Anong trabaho iyon? Chairman ka ng
Broadcast City, which was Channels 9 and 13 at that
time. And of course, my only experience with
television was watching it and I have no choice again
as usual. So, since it was merely the chairmanship of
the board of administrators, I said, Well, okey, let’s
do this. Let’s see what happens. And then, I got some
very difficult assignments from President Ramos,
which was basically to curtail the management
contracts of these stations with the different
5
management companies that were running it, which I
did, which led to a lot of controversy, some court
cases and then, eventually, my leading the board of
administrators under great controversy. So I went to
Vic again and said, .Alam mo, sometimes you are
right, sometimes you are wrong. Pare, I think, this
time you are really dead wrong.. And then later on,
when he ran for Congress, I was convinced by
President Erap then to stay in the Department of the
Interior and Local Government for a couple of years,
and I did tell him that I was not planning to stay very
long because my family was in the United States, and
I really did have businesses to attend to there. I did
not realize it until much later, but I think, even as
early as then, Vic was already making another plan.
He began by proposing the City of Antipolo in 1998,
and again he called me and said, .Look at this.
Because I was then with the Department of the
Interior and Local Government, he said, .Look at
this, if Antipolo becomes a city, our budget is
something. If I remember right, it was something in
the area of P180 plus million. He says If we become
a city, it will become P500 million, just by becoming
a city. Sabi ko, .Really, how did that happen? So he
computed for me the internal revenue allotment
(IRA) share and all of this. So, I said, .You know, it
sounds like a good idea.
Go for it. He said, .Tulungan mo ako kay Erap.
.No problem, I said. .I will recommend, you know,
the cityhood of Antipolo because it is really long
overdue. So, he went ahead and Antipolo, did, in fact,
become a city. So, that was the first stage of plans
that Vic had for the city.
Then came the second more important series of
plans. As you know, in 2001, I left the department,
again in the middle of great controversy, and
President Estrada came to me and said, .You know,
why do you not leave the department? I will just
appoint you Ambassador to the United Nations (UN),
because New York is very near your house. So I said,
Well, Mr. President, you do not have to appoint me
or anything. You know, aalis na lang ako tutal
marami naman akong kailangang gawin dahil ayaw
kong maging pabigat sa inyo. So, he accepted my
resignation and appointed me, anyway, to the United
Nations, but then came the confirmation process, and
I felt that that was not something I was prepared to
undergo, so I declined after being appointed. I told
him that I was withdrawing my application with the
Commission on Appointments (CA), and decided to
go back to private life. I think, it is at that particular
time when Vic started to hatch a new idea in his
head. That idea as mentioned earlier by Congressman
Zialcita is dividing the single district of Antipolo into
two districts, and once again he started talking to me,
and said, Alam mo, if we divide it into two districts,
6
the pork barrel will be multiplied by two. So, if we
are now making so much and give this to Antipolo,
we will be able to do so much and give it to Antipolo
as well. What do you think? I said, .Great idea, okay
iyan, go ahead. On another occasion, he said, Let us
start playing golf again when you are here. You
know, you are not exercising in the United States,
puro trabaho ka roon, bumalik ka rito, let us play
golf. I said, .Okay. So, he said, .There is a house that
is for sale in front of Valley Golf. It has been
repossessed, it is a very, very cheap house, you only
have to pay 10 percent, 10 years to pay, why don.t
you get it? Kung gusto mo, i-advance ko muna iyong
down payment. .Hindi, huwag na, sabi ko. He said,
Sige, okay na, let us get it, and then para at least
puwede tayong magkita-kita more often. So, I went
ahead and purchased the house. Next thing, you
know, he is coming to me with a voter’s registration
form. Sabi ko, .Ano ito? Pare mag-register ka na sa
Antipolo, hindi ka naman bumoboto anywhere,
bumoto ka na rito. Sabi ko, .Sige. Why? Hindi, para
madagdagan ako ng isang boto.. Isang boto, ang
dami ng botante rito. Okay lang iyan, sabi niya.
.Importante, boto mo. So, I registered and then
started voting in Antipolo City. And then, on the eve
of the deadline for the passage of bills in 2003, he
was able to sneak in the bill that finally divided
Antipolo into two districts for the election year 2004.
And then he went to me again and said, Alam mo,
magulo iyong first district. Sabi ko, .Ano iyong first
district? Itinuro niya sa akin iyong mga barangay. Eh,
tingnan mo naman kasi, sabi ko, iyong pagkahati
niyan, walang korte, it’s not down the middle. If you
see the division of the districts in the City of
Antipolo, it is really a very roundabout way of
dividing the city, hindi straight line. It is not divided
geographically. It is not divided by population.
Talagang he tried to follow the population’s figures,
but it was really a very crooked line. Sabi ko, .Bakit
ganyan nakahati iyan? Sabi niya, Kasi, sa Second
District, dito iyong old families. Dito sa First
District, marami riyan are migrants. Ah talaga? Oo,
yes. Ang daming problema diyan, sabi niya. It needs
a lot of work, malaking sakripisyo para tulungan ang
First District.
Iyong Second District, ang trabaho riyan, sabi
niya, is to restore the prominence, the history and the
brilliance of Antipolo City. Dati, sabi niya, .kinakanta
iyong Antipolo City, ngayon nakalimutan na. Sabi
niya, So, I really want to restore the brilliance and the
beauty of Antipolo City sa Second District. Sabi ko,
.That is a great plan. Sabi niya, .Sa First District, that
has to do with dealing with, you know, people with
complicated sets of problems. Magulung-magulo ang
mga problema ng tao riyan, and they need connection
to the national government.
JANUARY 8, 2009
Because, a lot of the problems that you will face
there the solutions will come from the national
government. Sabi ko, .Why the problems I will face?
Sabi niya, Kasi pare, ako ang bahala, tumakbo ka na
lang para pinakamadaling trabaho iyan.
Hindi ka kailangang pumasok.Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday ang session, sa hapon nag-uumpisa.
Huwebes hindi ka na kailangang pumasok, Biyernes
wala rin. Tatlong araw lang iyan, alas-kuwatro ng
hapon, puwede ka pang mag-absent,. sabi niya. Sabi
ko, .Mahirap naman yata iyon.. Hindi, basta kaya mo
iyan, pasukin mo na iyan.
So, after a lot of thinking and discussing with the
barangay captains and everybody else, finally, sabi
ko, .Well, okay, because, by that time I have gotten to
be close with many of our friends in the First District
of Antipolo. He had brought me on medical missions.
He had gotten me to meetings with them, and I have
become personal friends with many of the barangay
captains in Antipolo and some of the councilors.
So sabi ko, .Alright, we’ll do what we can. Sige
na, sabi niya, wala ka naming problema riyan, wala
kang kalaban diyan. So, the election started. .Ako
ang bahala sa election machinery mo. So, he gave me
a list of names, kumpleto iyong organisasyon, .Wala
kang kalaban riyan.. The first thing I know, ang
kalaban ko ay iyong asawa ni Mayor Gatlabayan.
Sabi ko, .Pare, hindi walang kalaban ito, mukhang
mabigatbigat ito ah. Sabi ko, .Sa mayor wala siyang
nakikitang kakalabanin siya. So, sabi ni Vic, .Ang
strategy riyan, pare, maghanap ka ng kalaban niya.
.Ako, bakit ako? Hindi, ikaw kasi iyo ang First
District, ako safe na ako sa distrito ko, sabi niya. Si
Vic talaga. That is why pinahamak ko si Susan
Garcia Say of Barangay San Isidro, and we
proceeded to mount my candidacy. And as luck, and
Vic’s presence would have it, I made it. And when I
became Congressman, he was right. Being
Congressman is one of the best jobs of the world, I
cannot say that it is .the. best job, but I think it is one
of the best jobs of the world. Because, it allows you
to serve your community and your constituency in
the manner that you see fit. You are not beset with
the day to day requirements of local government
where there is a predetermined agenda.
You can pick and choose the problems that you
want to address, and you will have the help of the
national government to solve the problems that you
wish to solve.
So, Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, the
time that I spent here in this House was a gift to me
from our colleague, Congressman Vic Sumulong.
Like many of the little successes in my life, his
JANUARY 8, 2009
advice, his help, and his great knowledge of people
enabled me to accomplish the things that I have been
able to accomplish. It is perhaps fitting that I speak
here today, and perhaps this is the longest time I have
been before the microphone in this House, as
everybody knows, to speak about my true friend, my
brother, my mentor and my teacher. Vic, I am here
because of you. I will never be able to thank you
enough. We will try to carry on everything that you
wanted to do as a Congressman, as a mayor,
everything that came out of your love for the city,
which I have also now come to love as my own. And
I promise you that I will be true to all the promises I
have made to you. And wherever you are, I know you
will continue to be the angel on my shoulder.
I hope you will continue to inhabit the halls of
this House which you served without tiring for nine
long years, in a manner that gave honor to the
position of Congressman.
So, again, farewell, my friend, and please do not
leave me even as we are in different worlds because
our spirits are in the same place.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL. Eulogy by the
honorable Deputy Speaker, Ma. Amelita C. Villarosa,
Representative from the Lone District of Occidental
Mindoro.
EULOGY BY
DEPUTY SPEAKER MA. AMELITA C.
VILLAROSA
Lone District of Occidental Mindoro
Mr. Speaker, colleagues from the House of
Representatives, ladies and gentlemen, good
afternoon. Let me read the life history of our beloved
honorable Mayor Victor Sumulong. We take this
opportune moment to pay our last tribute to the
Father of Antipolo City, the late Hon. Victor R.
Sumulong. The cityhood of Antipolo was enacted
into law during his term of office. Thus, what
Antipolo City is today was made possible because a
man named Victor Sumulong dared to make his
dream for his beloved city come true. In his lifetime,
Vic Sumulong was a scholar, orator, stage actor,
writer, musician, athlete and student leader.
At the age of 10, he competed in the De La Salle
declamation contest and won the silver medal and
garnered the gold medal the following year. In 1970,
he became the University of the Philippines law
champion orator and was subsequently chosen to
head the law debating team the following year.
He was consistently on the top of the honors
class from grade school to college.
7
He finished his Master of Laws at the UP Law
Center, scholar, and earned a fellowship in United
Nations Convention on international Trade Law held
in Geneva, Switzerland in 1976. In 1981, he
represented the Philippines in the Cultural Scholars.
Convention in Seoul, South Korea. His love for
music and singing began at an early age. He started
to pluck the guitar which culminated in the formation
of the Telestars Band in 1961. He managed, sang and
played the lead guitar for the Telestars until he
finished college at the Ateneo in 1968. In 1981, he
revived the Telestars and occasionally played in
concerts and jam sessions. He also organized the
Friends Band in Antipolo City playing at his own
bistro called Memory Lane, and in the ballroom
dance sessions in various parts of Antipolo City.
In 1978, he decided to accept a full-time
appointment as Assistant Secretary of the Department
of Local Government and Community Development.
This opportunity enabled him to become a wellrounded
executive
supervising
personnel
management and development, planning, finance and
administration as well as legal services. He also
supervised the leagues of provinces, cities,
municipalities and barangays, and became the
Director-General of the Barangay Brigades
Development Program (which is the forerunner of
the present day Sangguniang Kabataan, Barangay
Tanod, Katarungang Pambarangay, Disaster Brigades
and Ladies Brigades).
In the May 1998 elections, Vic Sumulong bested
nine other candidates to become the first elected
Representative of the Lone District of Antipolo City.
It was the biggest political margin ever achieved in
Antipolo. Although a neophyte solon, Hon. Vic
Sumulong has already authored a total of 44 bills and
26 resolutions.
Noteworthy is the fact that three of the 44 bills
have already become laws, namely: RA 8749 on June
23, 1999 which is .AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A
COMPREHENSIVE AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
POLICY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. RA 8791
on May 23, 2000 or AN ACT PROVIDING FOR
THE REGULATION OF THE ORGANIZATION
AND OPERATIONS OF BANKS, QUASI-BANKS
AND TRUST ENTITIES. which is an amendment to
the General Banking Act. RA 8755 enacted on
November 4, 1999 or .AN ACT CONVERTING
THE MUNICIPALITY OF TUGUEGARAO,
CAGAYAN PROVINCE INTO A COMPONENT
CITY TO BE KNOWN AS TUGUEGARAO CITY.
In the main, Honorable Vic Sumulong.s
legislative agenda was a product of his in-depth study
and analysis through immersion in the country’s
8
JANUARY 8, 2009
social and political realities and to find legislative
cures in existing social malaise, whose dire
consequences breed poverty, political unrest, armed
conflict, moral degeneration and the maldevelopment of Philippine society. Today, all the
fruits of his toils as a lawyer, a businessman, a
lawmaker and city mayor are ripe for the reaping. Let
us not allow his achievements to go for naught.
Death is not the greatest loss in life. Let us keep his
torch of commitment. The greatest loss is what dies
within us while we live.
With this aphorism, let us keep his torch of
commitment to the public service burning to greater
heights of growth and progress. In this way, Vic will
surely be very happy wherever he may be.
To Vic’s children, Maria Victoria, Mikaela
Angela and Christopher Emmanuel, and to the other
members of the family, we are with you in this
moment of your bereavement for the loss of a loving
kuya, a dear uncle and a dear dad. To the orphaned
people of Antipolo City, we extend our deepest
condolences on the passing away of the man who had
dedicated a great part of his life in the service of the
people of Antipolo.
To you, Vic, Shalom and may God be with you!
THE SECRETARY GENERAL. Mr. Babes
Maballo and Ms. Sarah Moscosa will now sing “The
Prayer” by Carole Bayer Sager.
rostrum as we ask the family of our late brother Vic
Sumulong, to receive mementos from the House,
things that he has left behind here, his oath of office
and his nameplate on the chair in the House of the
people.
May I ask the Deputy Speakers and our
colleagues, present and past Members of the House,
to join me in the rostrum and ask the Secretary
General to escort also the family to the rostrum.
The family of the late former Congressman Victor
R. Sumulong, together with the House Members
present, ascended the rostrum to receive the memento
offering from Speaker Prospero C. Nograles.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL. Mason’s
“Nearer My God To Thee”to be played by the
Philippine National Police Band.
The Philippine National Police Band played
“Nearer My God To Thee” by Mason.
THE SPEAKER. The necrological services for
our colleague, the Hon. Victor R. Sumulong, by the
House of the People is now ended.
It was 4:47 p.m.
I hereby certify to the correctness of the
foregoing.
Mr. Babes Maballo and Ms. Sarah Moscosa
sang.”The Prayer” by Carole Bayer Sager.
THE SECRETARY GENERAL. Mr. Lorenzo R.
Sumulong Jr. will now deliver the response.
RESPONSE OF
MR. LORENZO R. SUMULONG JR.
Mr. Speaker, Members of the House of
Representatives, friends and family. My brother, Vic,
spent more than half of his life serving his country,
serving his government, and serving his people,
especially the people of Antipolo. We wish to thank
you for all that you have presented here to the family
today and this will just culminate the apex of my
brother’s achievement in his life which is to serve his
country. And to you, brother Vic, I know you are in a
better place now. Do not worry about your children,
they are all levelheaded and besides they got family
that will look after them for the rest of their lives.
Again, thank you very much.
THE SPEAKER. At this point, we would like to
ask the Members of the House to join me here in the
(Sgd.) ATTY. MARILYN B. BARUA-YAP
Secretary General