Ex-governor, senator Espina dies at 89

A FATHER of the family and a nation.

This was how former Cebu City councilor Erik Espina described his father, the late Cebu governor and senator Jesus Marino “Rene” Espina.

Espina, 89, died on Friday due to kidney complications.

The former Cebu City councilor told SunStar Cebu how he witnessed his father worked, especially during his time as a public servant.

He recalled how it became a routine of his father to travel, inspect and visit the projects in the whole province while bringing food for the workers.

“He inspects his projects every afternoon, he travels along the province, magda og pandesal ug pagkaon para sa mga trabahante (while bringing bread and food for the workers),” shared Erik.

The former governor was also considered as the road builder of Cebu City, his son said.

According to the younger Espina, his father was considered as the father of the first Mandaue-Mactan bridge, and inaugurated Colon Street. as the oldest street in the country. The older Espina is also responsible for the road development of Mango Avenue, Guadalupe, and V. Rama Streets.

Erik said that his father is the kind of governor who does not wait for the Provincial Engineer to make a proposal.

Instead, he used to walk a certain road until he reached the end of it and tells the engineer: “You see this, I want you to build a road here towards that direction,” Erik recalled.

The former governor always wanted to start the project first and initiate the project study after, his son said.

Erik proudly said that his father has done projects that until now, the public are still using.

Erik has emphasized that his father did not come from a political family.

“He was not a political blueblood, he was just an ordinary man. He was not affiliated with the Cuencos. Osmeñas, and Ramas,” Erik added.

The late governor and senator was born in Barangay Tejero, Cebu City, and had his early education at the Tejero Elementary School.

Espina’s claim to fame started after he made to the list of topnotchers during the 1955 Bar Exams.

From then on, he was appointed as the Social Security System (SSS) chair by former President Diosdado Macapagal.

With Macapagal’s endorsement, Espina ran for governor under the Liberal Party in 1963.

He defeated then incumbent governor Francisco Remotigue of the Nacionalista Party by over 73,000 votes.

He was reelected after winning the 1967 election.

In 1972, he served as one of the advisers of former President and strongman Ferdinand Marcos after Congress was dissolved following the imposition of Martial Law.

Erik said his father was supposed to accompany then President Ramon Magsaysay when he took a plane from Cebu to Manila back in 1957.

The plane that Magsaysay took crashed on the slopes of Mt. Manunggal in Balamban, Cebu on March 17, 1957.

Back then, Espina was the president of the Magsaysay movement in the Visayas.

Erik said his mother did not want Espina to go during that time, thus he did not push through traveling with Magsaysay.

“Maybe it’s God’s way of intervention of not allowing my father to do so,” the former Cebu City councilor added.

Even if his father was already gone, Erik believes Espina’s legacy, just like the roads he built for Cebu, will forever remain.(JJL)

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