Mandaue to build monument to late senator Briones

A MONUMENT in honor of the late senator Manuel Cabahug Briones will soon be built at the plaza grounds beside the Rizal-Bonifacio Memorial Stage in Mandaue City.

Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes announced this  during the celebration of the 4th Manuel C. Briones Day last Friday.

He said the city government set aside a budget for the project this year. Mandaue City marked Briones’s 120th birthday last Jan. 1.

The City Council approved  an ordinance in March 2009  declaring every Jan. 1st as Senator Manuel Cabahug Briones Day.

The ordinance was later amended designating every first Friday of January as Manuel Briones Day.

Last Friday, flowers were offered in front of a canvas portrait of the late senator beside the Rizal Bonifacio stage.

Attending the program were Mayor Cortes, Vice Mayor Glenn Bercede, the City Council and former Mandaue City vice mayor Carlo Fortuna, a grandson of the late senator.

Joining them were Esperanza Briones Blanco, daughter of the late senator, Blanco’s daughter Monina and grand daughter Monica representing the Cabahug clan in Mandaue City.

In his speech, Cortes lauded the late senator’s accomplishments.

“He helped spur the country’s development…we are very proud of a great Mandauehanon whose greatness benefited us and the country,” he said.

The late senator was a former editor of the La Tribuna and El Espectador, Cebu papers that were published in Spanish.

He finished law in 1916 and  served in the Lower House for four terms (1918-1931) representing the 1st district of Cebu.

Briones was senator from 1931 to 1935 and from 1951 to 1957 representing the 10th senatorial district of Cebu.

Esperanza Briones Blanco expressed the clan’s gratitude for the honor bestowed by Mandaue City on her father.

“We are very proud of being Mandauehanons,” she said. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza