He followed and executed his vision for a progressive Nueva Vizcaya until his body paused with the calling of the Lord.

Governor Carlos Padilla, 78 who succumbed to Acute Myocardial Infarction last week, is best remembered for his endless and aggressive advocacies in promoting education and culture, protection and conservation of the environment, harnessing the agricultural potentials of the province including the development of access roads and interlink them to push for the upliftment of  the lives of the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in the uplands and Novo Vizcayanos in general.

In a program that he attended at the Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal (NVAT) in Bambang last week, he mentioned his vision by enhancing the program proponents’ theme  in a twist -  “Progressive Farmers in Nueva Vizcaya, Feeding the  World” which he was applauded by the visiting dignitaries of the Aboitiz Group and farmers.

His more than 30 years as a legislator, working and pushing various bills in Congress have brought in 45 elementary and secondary schools, spread out mostly in the upland communities in the province.

His other authored bills made way for the creation and establishment of the  Philippine Science High School (PSHS) - Cagayan Valley Campus and  the merging of the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) in Bambang town and the Nueva Vizcaya State Institute of Technology (NVSIT) in Bayombong into Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU).

Padilla’s sustained advocacy on education led him to become House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) and Co-Chairperson of the Educational Development Commission (EDCom) which inspired him to author Republic Act No.  6655 or the Free Public Secondary Education in the Philippines and  Republic Act No.  6728 or the Private Education Student Financial Assistance  (PESFA) Scholarship, Educational Service Contracting (ESC) Program.

He likewise authored the creation of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF).

“I am happy to see that what I have started in Congress is now benefiting our IPs in our upland communities and Novo Vizcayanos in general. Investing in education is always one of the best initiatives to bring about the general development and progress of our province,” he once said during a press conference with media practitioners last year.

Padilla said educating the province’s population where 70 percent of its land area is populated by IPs will further harness the agricultural and other potentials of the province that will uplift the socio-economic status of every Novo Vizcayano.

During his stint as Governor, one of the major programs that did was the opening up a localized farm school to teach the youth on organic agriculture and relevant livelihood opportunities and scholarship programs to help poor youths in pursuing their college education.

“Our IPs are also farmers of our rich natural resources that is why our IP youths should be taught well on the balanced and responsible use of our environment,” he said.

His big-ticket project for Novo Vizcayanos was the P1 billion loan with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to further realize his vision for an interlinked access road within the province to inspire upland farmers and their children in investing more on agriculture.

Most of the projects are now complete, it was learned.

These, among others, will be his legacy in the hearts and minds of every Novo Vizcayano. (OTB/BME/PIA NVizcaya)