CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – A “sure winner” foregoing her election. It just does not come this often.
“I am not running for board member in the second district of Pampanga.” So declared Olga Frances David-Dizon, who assumed the post of her mother, Edna de Ausen-David, after her death in November 2010.
The daughter has since made a name for herself as an “active, working” member of the sangguniang panlalawigan “backstopping Gov. (Lilia) Pineda in her health, education and social services advocacies.”
David-Dizon has also made her presence alongside the governor in all the relief-giving and rehabilitation efforts of the provincial government in the wake of typhoons and floods.
“Public service — especially with Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda — allowed me to find real happiness in helping and serving, especially those who have less in life” said David-Dizon in a statement posted in her Facebook account.
This, she said, made her understand why her parents “loved to serve.”
“We were more than blessed and giving back something to the people made them fulfilled,” she said.
The board member’s father, Roy David served for three terms as mayor of Porac after being assigned as OIC-mayor in the aftermath of the 1086 EDSA Revolution.
Hailed as “lahar fighter,” David was credited for defending Porac against moves by certain sectors, including government agencies to make the town a catch basin of lahar and other volcanic debris of Mount Pinatubo.
David was among those who relentlessly lobbied for the FVR megadike systems to save Pampanga from lahar rampages.
In his farewell statement, David-Dizon said his departure from politics is not the end of the engagement of her family in public service.
“There are some complements, though. My brother Vice Mayor Dexter David is still very much a public servant. (Our parents) will not be turning in their graves,” she said.
“One of the most difficult…I made in my entire life,” she said of her decision not to run in 2013. “The problem is, Bench and Iya need me more because they are still young.”
“I am retiring in order to spend more time with my family because I love my husband very much,” she said.
She had not totally closed her door however, saying “someday, who knows when my children are mature enough, I may serve my cabalens again.”
“Meantime, I will still help in my private capacity. Thank you. God bless Pampanga!” she ended her statement.
