Sunday, June 15, 2008 Father and Son: Pablo & Pablo John By Jenara Regis Newman
PABLO and Pablo John Garcia, father and son, are both lawyers and bar topnotchers: Pablo in 1951 and Pablo John in 1993. And now, they are both members of Congress, Pablo as congressman of the second district of Cebu and Pablo John, of the third. Was this planned or simply meant to be?
For Deputy Speaker Pablo P. Garcia, this is his third term in Congress, the first two terms being in 1987 to 1995, after which he became three-term governor of Cebu Province, from 1995 to 2004. Now in his 80s, he became a congressman again in 2007.
Politics, Pablo Sr. says, did not occur to him until late in life, when he was 60, influenced by his high-profile politician clients, the late Manuel Zosa and Ramon Durano. The family, he said, became “inclined to the profession of law, starting with my older brother Jesus, he said, also a bar topnotcher. Winston (his Government Service Insurance System executive son) is also a lawyer and Gwen (his governor daughter) would have been, but she quit her studies to help me in my third term as governor.
“I encouraged but did not force them to take up law. In the case of Pablo John, it was sort of understood that he would take up law especially because during his high school and college days, he excelled in public speaking and also in writing. He became editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, University of the Philippine’s (UP) school paper. He took up AB in Ateneo and law in UP. When he placed fourth place in the bar, he said he did not want to ‘best’ me.”
For Pablo John taking up law was taken for granted. In his words: “I was sort of programmed to follow in his footsteps. But being in congress was a matter of circumstances. I was helping my sister Gwen in the Governor’s Office and the opportunity just presented itself. My father was not sold (out) to the idea but as things turned out, there was an opportunity and I seized that opportunity.” To which Pablo Sr. adds: “I saw him as having a brilliant career as a practicing lawyer but circumstances conspired for him to become congressman.”
In Congress, they sit close to the other Cebuano congressman, Pablo John behind his dad. They each have their own focus. Pablo Sr. has bills to amend certain provisions of the family code while Pablo John has bills to increase certain requirements in creating a new province, and another for a new city. Pablo Sr. says he does not interfere with his son’s programs. He says: “I don’t even want to advise them (his children). I want them to develop individually in the way they want to be.”
For Pablo John, being with his father in Congress “is a daunting experience. My father was a congressman before and was consistently good legislator. The expectations are daunting because they expect me to be brilliant as my father. I’m grateful to be working with my father because he’s there to guide me. It’s both a daunting and a happy circumstance. I’ve never spent this much time with my father because he was always busy with other things, So now we’re always talking, discussing. I’m learning a lot of things.”
Pablo John, at 40, has had an earlier start in politics than his father. Will he stay in politics like his dad and achieve as much, if not more?
