CITY OF MALOLOS—Bulacan officials Thursday honored former Labor Secretary Blas Ople as the man behind today’s strong economy of the nation brought by the dollar remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) which he had initiated about thirty years now.
Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado led other Bulcan leaders in a wreath laying ceremony and a program at the monument of Ople in front of a building named after him inside the provincial capitol compound here for the commemoration of his 84th birth anniversary.
Alvarado said the Filipino nation and the Philippine government owe it to Ople today as our economy grows stronger each year because of the money remittances of the millions of Filipinos working abroad which was a brain work of the former Labor Secretary from Hagonoy town.
Ople who was born on Feb. 3, 1927 from a very poor family in the coastal Hagonoy town was the Labor Secretary in early 1970’s when he put up the Bureau of Employment Services at the Ministry of Labor and Employment which led to the birth of manpower export of the country.
Since then, Ople had formulated international labor laws and become the Father of International Labor Laws.
He then became a Foreign Affairs Secretary before he became a Senate President.
Alvarado said honoring the great sons of Bulacan and the Filipino nation like Ople which he called as a wonder boy of his time being born from a very poor family yet graduated as an elementary valedictorian and continue to rise up reaching his dreams and serving the country is part of his government’s thrust to enrich the culture and tradition of the province.
He recalled the young Ople who goes to school barely on his foot and without slippers and about to attend his graduation with honors in school without a pair of shoes as a very young member of the Bulacan Military Area command against then Japanese forces who occupied the country.
A fellow resident from Hagonoy town, Alvarado said the Bulacan race is very proud of Ople called as “Amang” by his children and relatives for also being a bright and brilliant journalist and a multi colored statesman.
Former Governor Tomas Martin, also from Hagonoy town who was guest speaker during the affair said Hagonoy would never have a similar son with such greatness that of Ople had shown and done for the country and for the people of Bulacan and their town.
Martin, 89, governor of Bulacan from 1957 to 1961 said Filipinos should always look at Ople as the man behind the manpower export in different countries and should never forget it.
He also hails Ople as an epitome of an honest, no single corrupt act committed during his terms in the government and should be emulated by all the people in the government. “Si Ople ay nanatiling mahirap pa rin hanggang siya ay mamatay, hindi siya nagpayaman at nag corrupt, wala siyang pabaong tinanggap sa gobyerno, iyan ang dapat tularan ng lahat,” he said.
Board Member Felix Ople, former Mayor of Hagonoy also reminded every Bulakenyo and every Filipino of the love and heart of his father for the laborers especially the OFW’s.
“His heart always belongs to the poor and the laborers and he raised us up with that principles of service to our fellowmen,” he said.
Ople died in 2003 as a modern day hero of Bulacan. He was buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Manila.
Former Board Member Raul Ople, another son of the old Ople spoke if his father’s contributions to fellow Bulakenyos not only in terms of labor export but including different infrastructures and a huge number of who had benefited from local employment.
Former Labor Undersecretary Susan “Toots” Ople and Hagonoy Councilor Dalisay Ople-San Jose are also the children of the former Senate President and Foreign Affairs Secretary.
Toots who run but lost in the senate race in May 2010 elections had been running the Ople Policy Center which she founded as a legacy of her father that looks after the welfare and protection from abuses and maltreatments of OFW’s in different countries.