It was supposed to be a quiet family gathering.
But plans to celebrate her 70th birthday grew into a ballroom
crowd of over 150 kinsmen, friends and top Cebu political leaders at the Radisson Blu last Saturday evening.
They wished her well and waited for any inkling of her political plans for 2013.
By the end of the evening, after tributes from her children and an impromptu invitation by one guest, Cebu City Rep. Tomas Osmeña, to join the Liberal Party, Vice Gov. Agnes Almendras-Magpale said she looked forward to more years in public service “in whatever position.”
“I did promise God that I would give the best of what I have to serve his people,” she announced.
Magapale recalled how an old man, an ordinary voter in south Cebu, inspired her to continue by telling her that while she wasn’t elected vice governor, stepping into the vacancy left by the April 2010 death of Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. was a matter of destiny.
Magpale has been invited by the LP to run for vice governor as runningmate of Hilario Davide III in 2013 but says she leaves the decision to her party, Bakud, which is led by Durano kinsmen.
The courtship has had political observers speculating whether the tandem could go the other way around, with Davide, a lawyer over 20 years her junior, supporting her candidacy as governor.
Whatever the result, ongoing negotiations between LP and her clansmen in Bakud (Barug Alang sa Kauswagan Ug Demokrasya) signaled a break in the alliance with Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s One Cebu party, which swept the 2010 local elections.
Garcia, who ends her third and final term in 2013 and is looking for a successor, only had words of praise for Magpale when she spoke at the early part of the dinner.
In a voice still hoarse from her hectic rounds of Sinulog festival activities and the Suroy-Suroy caravan, Garcia commended Magpale for her leadership in the Regional Tourism Forum and competence as vice governor.
Garcia’s daughter Cristina with husband Liloan Mayor Duke Frasco were there.
Party guests included Bakud top leader and relative Ramonito Durano, whom Magpale acknowledges as her “mentor” in politics, and Durano sons Ace and Red, the 5th district congressman.
Mayors of the 5th district were there with Rep. Luigi Quisumbing and Rep. Benhur Salimbangon along with PB members Arleigh Sitoy and Peter John Calderon.
Congressman Osmeña, who was asked to give an on-the-spot testimonial, drew laughter when he capped his greeting saying, “I hope you join the Liberal Party….” only to have the microphone playfully withdrawn by the emcee, Ina Magpale, daughter of the celebrant and Undersecretary of the Department of Energy.
(By then Governor Garcia had already left the hall. The two were seated at different tables.)
“I would have wanted to continue that speech,” Osmeña told Cebu Daily News yesterday, “and tell everyone that I’m looking forward to working with her in the Liberal party. She’s a worthy replacement of Greg Sanchez over Glenn Soco.”
Osmeña was later joined by wife Margot, Cebu City councilor, who has worked with Magpale in the “Kapwa Ko Mahal Ko” charity board for several years.
While politicians sprinkled the crowd, a bigger number of guests were relatives and friends from different circles like her St. Theresa’s and University of the Philippines schoolmates, colleagues in the tourism industry, women’s advocacy groups, charities and the Balik Cebu.
Magpale said her children had planned a “surprise” party for her and didn’t want it to become a political affair, but the guest list just kept getting bigger to accommodate people she was close to.
Earlier that day, Magpale kept prior appointments to have breakfast in Catmon town with its councilors and then went to Bogo City for Mass and lunch.
At age 70, when most people are planning to slow down and retire, Magpale talked with enthusiasm about carrying on with public service in line with “the values of my parents—integrity above all else.”
At the Capitol yesterday, Magpale told CDN she asked for “divine guidance in future decisions” as one of her birthday wishes aside from good health for her and her family.
She emphasized that there was nothing definite yet about political plans and that she would continue to advocate for women’s and children’s rights in Cebu province.
“There are a lot of possibilities but I am a party person. Everything would depend on my party. I don’t want to impose my wishes in that aspect.
“Whatever is the decision of my party, we will consider, evaluate things… but at the moment, there’s really nothing definite except that talks are ongoing between Bakud Party and Liberal Party.”
During her post-dinner birthday speech, Magpale brought up a familiar anecdote about an old man she met in one of her trips to south Cebu last year.
Before that meeting, she was ready to retire and focus on running her family-run school in Danao City. Then Vice Gov. Greg Sanchez died and by the law of succession, as the no. 1 PB member with the most votes in the local election, she assumed the second highest provincial post in May 16.
“Last year I met an old man in the south…. He approached me and said, ‘So you’re the vice governor now, Agnes Magpale.’
“I didn’t know what he was going to say next . Then he said, ‘You weren’t chosen by the people.’ That really floored me but what he said after that was something beautiful.
“He said (in Cebuano), ‘You were not elected by the people but you were chosen by God so who are we as people to deny the will of God.’”
As an update, Magpale said she met the old man again the night before during the Suroy-Suroy south caravan and approached him.
“I said, ‘Manoy, you were the one who said to me…’ and he did remember every word of what he said. I said, ‘You know I have quoted you several times and I would like to add… I promise you that I will continue to live up to your impression of me. I will never fail you, no matter what position I will take in the future.’”
She said she thanked the old man for his “words of wisdom” “because that was really the answer to all the criticism that came my way that I just got (this post effortlessly)… nidawat ug limpyo .”
“Let me quote him again. While it’s true it was God’s choice that I should occupy this position, I did promise God that I will give the best of what I have to serve his people. On that note, daghang salamat.” Carmel Loise Matus, Eileen Mangubat with Edison A. delos Angeles