Binalonan Liners

11/08/2025

PLM honors Comelec chairman, Pangasinan governor,
63 other outstanding alumni in Haribon Awards

MANILA – The Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila will honor 65 outstanding alumni in its ‘Haribon Awards’ at The Manila Hotel on June 21.

Leading the awardees are Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairperson George Erwin Garcia, reelected Pangasinan Governor Ramon Guico III and Pulitzer Prize awardee and veteran journalist Manuel Mogato.

The Haribon Awards is the highest alumni award conferred for the first time by the PLM jointly with the PLM Alumni Association Inc. (PLMAAI).

PLM President Dr. Domingo Reyes Jr. and PLMAAI President Bishop Reuben Abante will lead the presentation of awards, capping the week-long celebration of the 60th foundation anniversary of PLM, the country’s first city university and now one of the top universities in the country.

Guico, a licensed pilot, was conferred a Doctor of Public Management degree by PLM with an excellent thesis on the strong potential of expanding the country’s aeronautics industry, which led him to spearhead the opening of the Binalonan Airport, the WCC Aviation Company, the Sky Pasada airline, and the WCC Aeronautical and Technological College based in his hometown of Binalonan in Pangasinan.

Inspired by PLM, Guico also put up two local colleges in Pangasinan – the University of Eastern Pangasinan (UEP) in Binalonan and recently, the Pangasinan Polytechnic College in the provincial capital Lingayen.

Meanwhile, Garcia was a former professor and Dean of the PLM College of Law during which the college was one of top performing schools in the country. He took his Bachelor of Laws from Lyceum of the Philippines University and his Master of Laws from PLM.

Mogato was a former professor at PLM where he got his Bachelor in Mass Communication degree and begun work on his Master of Mass Communication degree.

Another awardee from Pangasinan is veteran journalist, author, educator and former National Press Club President Alfredo Gabot of Binalonan.

Gabot was a professor and former two-term member of the PLM Board of Regents, former Commissioner of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and former Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost). He served as one of the editors of the Daily Express, Evening Express and the Manila Bulletin as well as Filipino newspapers in the United States.

Lawyer, journalist and industrialist Carlos Moran Sison, son of former senator, National Assembly member and Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1935 member Pedro Sison Jr. of Urdaneta City and Gracia Palisoc Moran, a sister of Supreme Court Chief Justice Manuel Moran of Binalonan, served as the first Chairman of the PLM Board of Regents.

Among other Haribon awardees are PLM Regent Wilma Valle Galvante, former Ambassador Constancio Vingno Jr., former United Nations Representative Richard Prado, Dr. Reynaldo Imperial, Dr. Lucas Riel Bersamin Jr. and Dr. Sybil Jade Pena of the Paris-based Doctors Without Borders.

Other awardees include former PLM University Secretary and Board of Regents Secretary and current Executive Director of the Komisyon para sa Wikang Filipino Marites Barrios Taran, Director Adolfo Alix Jr., actor Beethoven Bunagan popularly known as Michael V, New York-based lawyer Manuel Quintal, former Commissioner George Gange of the San Jose (California) International Airport, former IBC Channel 13 President Roberto del Rosario and former RPN Channel 9 General Manager Edith Amat del Rosario.

The PLM, the Philippines’ first tuition-free and first city university, opened its Diamond Jubilee celebration on June 16 with a flag-raising ceremony, followed by a grand parade of officials, students, employees and alumni around Intramuros, where the historic three-hectare PLM campus is located.

The campus was once the Cuartel de España where the trial and sentencing of Dr. Jose Rizal was held. It was also the site of Colegio de San Ignacio which eventually became the country's first Pontifical and Royal University older than the University of Sto. Tomas.

The parade was followed by a high noon thanksgiving mass officiated by Rev. Msgr. Reginald Malicdem, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Manila, at the university chapel.

On June 17, present PLM officials honored past university presidents, chairpersons and members of the PLM Board of Regents at the Metropolitan Theater. Former PLM President Leonora de Jesus, former Chairman Benjamin Espiritu and Gabot were among the awardees.

In 60 years, the. PLM has produced over 100,000 professionals, many of them nurses, doctors, engineers, accountants, medical technologists, lawyers, physical therapists, teachers, government and business executives and entrepreneurs spread in the Philippines and overseas, mostly in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Middle East.

On June 19, 1965, President Diosdado Macapagal signed Republic Act 4196 which created the University of City of.Manila, more popularly known by its Filipino name Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila derived from the word “pantas” or wise. This law authorized the City Government of Manila to operate and manage PLM with city funds.

Upon intercession of Mayor Antonio J. Villegas, President Macapagal, whose wife was Dr. Evangeline Macapagal of Binalonan, Pangasinan, also gave the PLM its three-hectare campus through a Presidential Proclamation, and the couple visited the PLM thrice under its first president Dr. Benito F. Reyes.

Five Pangasinan congressmen -- Aguedo Agbayani, Angel Fernandez, Cipriano Primicias Jr., Amadeo Perez and Luciano Milan, the first president of the National Press Club of the Philippines – were among the lawmakers who supported the creation of PLM through bills filed by Rep. Justo Albert in the House of Representatives.

Another highlight of the celebration will the re-installation on Friday, June 20, of the bust monument of Mayor Antonio J. Villegas who opened PLM on July 17, 1967, with 556 student scholars considered the cream of the crop of the 26 high schools of Manila.

The Mayor Villegas bust was originally installed in what was named as G*t Antonio Villegas mini-park beside the first university flagpole by pioneer students who donated the bust and mini-park in recognition of the role of Villegas in establishing and supporting the PLM.

The original installation was witnessed by then Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the mayor’s daughter, Teresita “Baby” Villegas.

After the re-installation of the Mayor Villegas bust, the university will honor for the first time its first five batches of students from 1967 to 1971 with the presentation of PLM medallions to each of the batch members, to be led by Dr. Reyes, Bishop Abante and other officials. Prof. Antonio Villegas Jr., son of Mayor Villegas, will be the special guest during the re-installation ceremonies.

Capping the celebration will be the presentation of the Haribon Award to the first batch of 65 outstanding alumni at the Centennial Hall of the Manila Hotel and the launching of the first of the two-volume PLM coffee table book “Pantas.” (PNA)

MANILA – The Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila will honor 65 outstanding alumni in its ‘Haribon Awards’ at The Manila Hotel on June 21. Leading the awardees are Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairperson George Erwin Garcia, reelected Pangasinan Governor Ramon Guico III and Pulitzer Prize…

11/08/2025

AMERICA IN MY HEART:
New heroes from my hometown,
book launch, tribute to Carlos Bulosan

While preparing for the launching of my book, “California: A Philippine Territory – Almost and Other Stories,” cm tribute to Carlos Bulosan at the Echo Park branch of the Los Angeles Public Library in Filipinotown LA, this September 20, I “discovered” two new heroes from our hometown Binalonan in Pangasinan.

The “discovery” was timely because I am doing the finishing touches of my forthcoming book, “Carlos Bulosan Hometown in His Heart” which is about Binalonan and its prominent sons and daughters, the source of his inspiration in his major works such as the semi-autobiographical book “America is in the Heart,” and the top-selling short story “The Laughter of My Father” which became the centerpiece of a collection of his short stories with the same title.

The two new heroes were brothers Christopher “Chris” and Julio De Larna Mensalvas. I just got a confirmation that two close friends of Bulosan in Seattle, Washington were actually his townmates in Binalonan, although they were born in nearby town of San Manuel.

Who did the confirmation? The Seattle-based siblings of Julio – Johnny and Rhyzie Mensalvas. Johnny was my Binalonan North Central Elementary School classmate while his younger sister Rhyzie, also a graduate of that school, is a new Facebook friend having interacted by Messenger in connection with our school reunion in time for our town fiesta. During our school days, I used to pass by and admire their beautiful house, indicating they belong to a well off family, compared to our house which was made of bamboo and nipa.

Chris and Julio, according to Johnny and Rhyzie, helped Carlos Bulosan upon his arrival in Seattle then only 17 on June 13, 1930. Chris came to America in 1927 when he was 18 while Julio, also 18, came to America in 1925 or two years earlier than his younger brother to pursue their American Dream, attracted by labor contractors’ promise of better life in America. Some accounts showed Chris was in a steerage with 300 Filipino passengers, 30 of whom died during their 30-day voyage to Seattle.

From Seattle, labor contractors brought the Filipinos to California, the Yakima Valley or the canneries of Alaska to work. The Filipinos were surprised that instead of better opportunities, they encountered discrimination, poor living conditions and oppressive labor practices, including meager pay.

According to certain accounts, the Mensalvas brothers helped Bulosan find work and eventually introduced him to labor unionism.

Chris migrated to the US in 1927 for further studies. He attended the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) to become a lawyer but, after three years, dropped out due to discrimination that made it illegal for Filipinos to practice law or medicine, to own land or marry whites, among others.

Chris early on founded the Pangasinan Association of Los Angeles and served as its first president. He also joined other organizations responsible for “Jose Rizal Day” celebrations. He also joined other Filipinos and formed the “Committee for the Protection of Fiipino Rights.”

Chris then worked as business agent for Local 266 of the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packinghouse and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA). Chris also served as publicity director for Local 7 in Seattle.

Chris also served as president from 1949 to 1959 of the International Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU) Local 37 Filipino Alaska Cannery Workers Union, the first Filipino to lead a major union in US. Before that, he was one of the leaders of the 1948 Asparagus Strike in Stockton, California.

During the labor union work in California, Chris spent time with Carlos Bulosan and they published a newspaper in Pismo Beach which helped their union organizing to a certain success.

During the outbreak of World War II, Chris moved to Portland where his brother Julio had been president of Local 226. Chris worked in a Portland hospital but later quit and became the Local 226 business agent.

Julio, meanwhile, enlisted with the United States Army and saw action in the Philippines with Gen. Douglas MacArthur. After the war, Julio, who became a United States citizen, opted to stay in the Philippines to pursue his education and graduated with a law degree from the University of Manila. Julio then worked with the US Embassy in Manila helping US and Filipino soldiers with their benefits.

Chris also took care of Bulosan while confined at a hospital during his final months in Seattle.

Chris was the reason why Bulosan returned to Seattle in the 1950s from Los Angeles where he blossomed as a great writer. Chris and fellow union leaders were arrested and fought deportation orders after they were branded as communists during the McCarthy era. In 1952, Chris invited Bulosan to edit the yearbook for ILWU Local 37 and became the publicity director of the union that helped for the eventual release of Chris and the union leaders. When Chris was released, he had to move to Hawaii where he worked with the Longshoremen’s Union there. He eventually returned to Seattle.

Chris and fellow union leader Ernesto Mangaoang were arrested in 1949, a year after organizing the 1948 Stockton Asparagus Strike. They were being deported despite their status as “US nationals.” The Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) recounted that Mensalvas and Chris engaged in extensive legal battles contesting their deportation order, ultimately appealing to the Supreme Court. In 1953, the High Court ruled that Mangaoang could not be deported being a “Filipino non-US citizen resident” or permanent resident. “This ruling also ensured that the estimated 70,000 Filipino migrants who arrived between 1899 and 1946 were similarly protected from deportation,” the FANHS stated.

Bulosan wrote using a typewriter a poem for his best friend Chris Mensalvas during his birthday celebration. The poem reads in part:

Over the years we fought apart and together,
Scarring our lives, breaking our hearts,
For the shining heart of a heartless world;
For the nameless multitude in our
beautiful land,
For the worker and the unemployed,
For the colored and the foreign born…
Because we fight for truth, for beauty, for life,
We fight for the splendor of love.
They are afraid my brother,
They are afraid of our mighty fists,
my brother,
They are afraid of the magnificence
of our works, my brother,
They are even afraid of our songs of
love, my brother.

It was during the dark days of the Seattle-based labor union and the campaign to fight deportations that Carlos Bulosan wrote the stirring poem, “I Want the Wide American Earth,” which some say helped avert the deportation of Christ Mensalvas and others.

“I Want the Wide American Earth” became the centerpiece of the Asian American History Month celebration under then President Barack Obama, born in Hawaii of Kenyan father and American mother, and who spent some time as a growing child in Indonesia with his mother.

For the first time, “I Want the Wide American Earth” was recently translated into Filipino by poet-journalist-educator Jose Lad. Santos who had served as Chairman of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) and Commissioner of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), among others. The poem is highlighted in my book to be launched on September 20 and will be read at the Echo Park Library by way of paying tribute to Carlos Bulosan.

Carlos Bulosan died in Seattle on September 11, 1956 at 43 after spending 26 colorful years in America. Chris Mensalvas wrote in Bulosan’s obituary: “I am willing to testify that Carlos Bulosan is dead…but he will never die in the hearts of the people.”

See you at the book launch to get a copy signed by the author. For details, go to the website of the Carlos Bulosan Book Club (CBBC). Here’s the link to the event: https://carlosbulosanbookclub.org/events/ (For comments, email at [email protected])

https://www.philippinenews.com/america-in-my-heart-new-heroes-from-my-hometown-tribute-to-carlos-bulosan/

While preparing for the launching of my book, “California: A Philippine Territory – Almost and Other Stories,” cm tribute to Carlos Bulosan at the Echo Park branch of the Los Angeles Public Library in Filipinotown LA, this September 20, I “discovered” two new heroes from our hometown Bina...

21/10/2024

Loreta Oriel Perlas
April 4, 1942 — September 12, 2024
Cerritos
Loreta Oriel Perlas, 82, born on April 04, 1942, in Sumabnit, Binalonan, Philippines, the eldest child of Jovita Lagmay Oriel and Rafael Mina Oriel Sr. Since she was born on Sabado de Gloria, the Saturday before Easter, she was affectionately known as Glory.

In 1958, she graduated from Binalonan High School then earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of the East in 1962.

In 1963, Glory worked part-time as an Office Clerk and Bookkeeper for the Office of Mayor Amadito Perez in Urdaneta, Pangasinan.

In 1964, she immigrated to the United States to Hollywood, California. She completed a one-year Cosmetology course and worked in Beverly Hills, Hollywood,and Los Angeles.

In 1966, Glory married her elementary and high school sweetheart, Nazario “Bobots” Dombriguez Perlas Jr., a Machinist Mate First Class in the United States Navy and called Los Angeles home.

When Bobots returned to California after serving overseas, in 1970 they moved to San Diego with two daughters, Gloria and Karen. In 1973, with four children, (including sons Norman and Neal), Glory and Bobots moved briefly to San Francisco for 6 months and then returned to San Diego. In 1976, with the addition of a new baby, Nelson, Glory worked the night shift for Van De Camp. In San Diego, Glory founded the Binalonan Association of Southern California because she was passionate about gathering relatives and town mates in the region while maintaining ties with their homeland.

During the summer of 1979, Glory and Bobots with their five children set permanent roots in Cerritos, California. In the 80’s, Glory was employed with Western Digital Corporation as a Quality Insurance Inspector. In her spare time, she enjoyed taking classes at Tall Mouse in egg decorating and collected beanie babies.

She was a 45-year resident of Cerritos at the time of her passing. She passed away peacefully, on September 12, 2024, surrounded by immediate and extended family.

She is preceded in death by her father Rafael Mina Oriel Sr., mother Jovita Lagmay Oriel, sister Imelda Palacpac, and brother Romulo Oriel.

Loreta “Glory” is survived by her husband, Nazario “Bobots,”children: Gloria Pulido (Mark), Karen, Norman (Kimberly), Neal (Nicole) and Nelson (My Linh), grandchildren: Ramil Jr. (Kelly), Jesalyn, Kesslain (Anthony), Malia, Jordan, McKayla, Jaden, Jaren, Anthony, Mark Jr., Kai, Elijah, Whitney, and Celine, great-grandchildren: Jordan, Kody, Ava, Lincoln, Nixon and another expected to be born in December 2024. She is also survived by her siblings: Rafael Jr. (Amelia) in Canada, and Elena Doronio (Agapito), Roger (Cora), and Romeo (Edilyn) and in-laws: Louie Palacpac (Imelda) and Marissa Bautista (Romulo) in California.

Rest in eternal peace and let perpetual light shine upon you our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, cousin, auntie and dear friend. You will forever be in our hearts and minds.

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