BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya (PIA) - - Governor Jose Valeriano Gambito has declared a period of mourning with the untimely demise of then Governor Carlos Padilla, tagged as a great statesman, leader and ‘Legend of the North’.
Padilla succumbed to Acute Myocardial Infarction on May 5 at their house in barangay Quirino in Solano town, leaving behind his wife Ruth, former governor and president of the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU), his children Jojo, Ruthie Maye and Carlo Paulo, including the grieving Novo Vizcayanos.
Gambito who succeeded Padilla issued his first Executive Order No. 01 Series of 2023 declaring a period of mourning in the entire province of Nueva Vizcaya.
The order praised and commended Padilla’s unwavering dedication to public service and his enormous contribution to the province, the Novo Vizcayanos in particular and the Filipino people, earning the reputation as the ‘Legend of the North’.
It also recognizes his greatness as a statesman and to dignify his contributions as a true public servant to the province and the nation as well.
“The provincial government enjoins all public and private offices, government agencies, municipalities and constituents to observe a period of mourning from May 5 until the interment of then Governor Padilla,” the order stressed.
Gambito’s order also encouraged all national flags in the province be flown on half mast as a sign of mourning, the provincial capitol be draped in black and intermission numbers during the regular flag raising ceremony be skipped until the burial of then Governor Padilla.
Padilla started his political career, serving as the youngest Municipal Mayor of then Dupax town and ascended as one of the 8 Assemblymen elected to represent Region 2 in the Interim Batasang Pambansa in 1974.
He spent most of his work in Congress representing the Lone District of Nueva Vizcaya, serving as Deputy Speaker and Minority Leader in the 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th Congress.
He served as member of the Commission on Appointments (CA), House of Representative Electoral Tribunal (HRET) and Co-Chairperson of the Educational Development Commission (EDCom).
Padilla authored RA 6655 or the Free Public Secondary Education in the Philippines, RA 6728 or Private Education Student Financial Assistance Scholarship, Educational Service Contracting (ESC) Program, creation of the National Commission on Culture and the arts (NCCA) and the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF).
His other bills in Congress paved the way for the establishment of 45 elementary and secondary schools including the Philippine Science High School Cagayan Valley Campus, the merging of the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) in Bambang town and the Nueva Vizcaya State Institute of Technology (NVSIT) in Bayombong as NVSU and others on the development of access roads and bridges in the remote and upland communities in Nueva Vizcaya to bring education closer to the Indigenous Peoples (IPs).
With his political stint and achievements, he earned his reputation as the champion of education and culture.(MDCT/BME/PIA Nueva Vizcaya)
