STA. BARBARA TODAY

STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan, July 21 — A unique literary contest was launched Tuesday at Daniel Maramba National High School (DMNHS) here to commemorate the 139th birthday of a great local hero, Colonel Daniel Maramba who became governor of Pangasinan.

The contest, dubbed as “Sino Ka Ba Daniel Maramba?”, is sponsored by the municipal government headed by Mayor Reynaldo Velasco, in coordination with the Sta. Barbara Historical and Research Society and alumni of DMNHS to enable the people to know more about Maramba.

Records showed that Daniel Maramba was born here on July 21, 1870. As a Katipunero, he led in siege and capture of Mangaldan and Dagupan towns from the Spaniards.

Maramba, a nephew of Valentin Diaz, one of the founders of the Katipunan from Tayug town, was appointed by General Emilio Aguinaldo as officer-in-charge of the revolutionary forces in central Pangasinan.

The Katipunero leader finished his secondary course at the Juan de Letran and at the University of Santo Tomas where he took up a course in surveying.

He served as the Municipal President (1907-1908) in this town and Provincial Governor of Pangasinan (1916-22). It was during his incumbency when the Provincial Capitol was built in 1918.

He was later elected legislative representative of the 3rd district of Pangasinan (1934-1935); Assemblyman from the same district to the National Assembly on September 17, 1935 and re-elected to the same office on November 1938. He died as a senator in 1941.

Maramba’s life and legacy of self-less service was the inspiration of the literary competition. Sadly, the young generation barely knew him, hence the goal of the contest is to know more about him and pass it all around.

All participants were excited and the launching was attended by school heads, teachers, pupils and students from the various schools in this town.

The contest is under the 10-point progress agenda of the Mayor Velasco in coordination with the SBHRS, DMNHS alumni association led by Liza Melendez, the local town police and local teachers and non-government organizations.

It is also in support of the Philippine National Police (PNP) integrated transformation program under its citizen empowerment thrusts aimed at instutionalizing the memory of the town’s local heroes, said Superintendent Eric Noble, chief of police. <po>It is open to all public and private High School and Elementary students. All forms of literary pieces as poems, essays, short stories, songs, raps, etc. may be submitted in either English or Filipino.

The criteria include content (50%) of information on Daniel Maramba, creativity (30%) and clarity of message (20%).

Founding member of SBHRS, Noble said, “we have invited the Maramba family, academicians, media personalities and business people to judge the contest.”

Noble is this year’s awardee of the MetroBank’s Country’s Outstanding Police in Service (COPS).

“Big cash prizes and gifts await the winners,” Mayor Velasco said, saying “Without heroes, we are all plain people and don’t know how far we can go.”

All entries must be submitted by August 28 to the principal’s office or emailed to — Entries can also be submitted to PO3 Ruth Poserio, the coordinator of the local PNP’s transformation program. (PNA)

FFC/LVM/lmm/rma