My friend, mentor, and motivator – former Negros Occidental Governor Daniel “Bitay” Lacson Jr. – has been taken to his heavenly home after years of suffering from Parkinson’s.
You might say he burned out, obsessed as he was with looking for ways to make things better, not knowing how to switch off and forget the problems of his province and country.
He suffered from ulcers and palpitations, and all the other pressures brought upon a man of passion and vision. He couldn’t stop thinking about problems and their solutions, and his mental and physical energies overflowed.
He was a businessman (he was president of Negros Navigation) and farmer (prawns, cattle and sugar), family man, band leader and drummer, golfer and public servant all rolled into one.
He was responsible for bringing Negros Occidental back on track after EDSA 1, serving as OIC Governor under Cory Aquino. He engineered the recovery and rehabilitation programs under the battle cry “Hope Shines in Negros!”, and introduced the Star of Hope to the world.
He dreamed up the Mini-Taiwan development model, and the 60-30-10 land use/land-sharing program (unfortunately overtaken by Land Reform). He brought the Grameen Bank micro-lending program to the province, inspired an outpouring of volunteerism, and brought needed foreign aid to finance development programs in partnership with the private sector.
Bitay convinced President Cory to make NegOcc the pilot province for decentralization, at a time when devolution was still a distant dream.
He took 11 political neophytes (including me as his Vice Governor and 10 Board Members representing different sectors) to run – and win – during the first democratic elections after Martial Law, in 1988.
Many of his colleagues will also remember the Negros Business Forum days, when ideas and passions flew every which way from his fellow impassioned “dakilang mirons”. Nothing ever stayed calm or boring in Bitay’s presence.
Governor Bitay eventually served as Anti-Poverty Czar under President Cory, leaving me to succeed him as governor. He served as President of PNB and then Chairman of GSIS before he finally retired, confessing only that his palpitations were getting worrisome.
What a life! You deserve the break, Bitay, but please don’t bother God too much. Just pray that the fires you lit here on earth keep burning in our hearts. God bless you!*
(Rafael L. Coscolluela was vice governor of Negros Occidental during the term of Gov. Daniel Lacson Jr. He succeeded him as governor)