Lawmakers on Monday mourned the passing of lifelong Liberal Party stalwart and former Northern Samar governor Raul Daza, who also represented the province at the House of Representatives at several times over the decades, including during the Martial Law regime and after the 1986 People Power revolution.
At the necrological service at the Batasang Pambansa, House Deputy Speaker Ferdinand Hernandez of South Cotabato called Daza a lifelong fighter for democracy. He recounted that Daza was a Liberal Party lawmaker who opposed President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.'s Martial Law regime, then became a Deputy Commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government under the administration of President Corazon Aquino and a member of the House as Northern Samar Representative in the 8th, 9th, 10th, 15th, 16th, and 17th Congresses.
“In these capacities, he brought his extensive experience in legislation and governance closer to the communities whose welfare remained central to his life's work. He was steadfast in his principles, demonstrating a consistency of conviction that endured to the changing political circumstances and successive administrations,” Hernandez said.
“His legislative contributions reflected this conviction that the meaningful progress must be measured not simply by the laws enacted, by the opportunities they create and the lives they improved,” Hernandez added.
Some of the laws authored by Daza under Republic Act 6639, which renamed the Manila International Airport the Ninoy Aquino International Airport; Republic Act number 8291, or the Government Service Insurance System Act of 1997; and Republic Act 8544, which regulates the merchant marine profession in the Philippines.
Daza died on October 12 at the age of 91.
Former House Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada III also shared that while then-House Deputy Speaker Daza did oppose the passage of the Reproductive Health Law in Congress in 2012, a priority bill of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III's administration, Daza did not use his position to delay the passage of the measure.
“Although he had his own convictions, he did not want to use his authority of the Speaker's gavel to obstruct the legislative process. He asked me to step in and preside whenever the bill was taken up. He didn't want to use the gavel to obstruct the legislative process. Think about the significance of that decision. Manong Raul did not abandon his principles,” Tañada said.
“He did not pretend to agree with something that conflicted with his own personal beliefs. He remained faithful to his convictions. But he also recognized that in a democracy, public service requires respect for institutions, for the legislative process, and for the legitimate will of the majority. He understood that holding a position of authority does not give us the right to use that authority to frustrate every decision with which we disagree,” he added.
Simple, meaningful gestures
House Deputy Minority Leader of Leila de Lima of ML party-list also recalled the times Daza paid her a visit during the times she was detained on drug charges where she was ultimately acquitted of, saying Daza faced the same persecution during the Marcos Martial law years.
“During my imprisonment, Manong Raul visited me in 2018 and also in 2019. He would occasionally send me books, letters, and rosaries. To some, this might seem like simple gestures, but to someone, for someone, whose freedom has been deprived of, that would come to understand, would understand how much, how much a familiar voice, a thoughtful letter, and a visit from an old friend can mean,” de Lima said.
“Manong Raul had known persecution himself. He lived through the dictatorship. He spent years in exile and returned to the Philippines despite the risk. I believe that experience gave him a particular understanding, what it meant to stand by someone during difficult times. And I will always be grateful that he stood by me,” she added.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, for her part, lauded Daza for standing up for what is right, no matter the costs and hearing out even those who are way younger than him.
“Manong Raul was a patriot who loved our country. He could have stayed in the United States where he had already won asylum [during the Marcos Martial Law era], but in the face of a standing warrant of arrest here, he chose to come back and fight. From a safer place, he moved back into the line of fire, getting arrested, being incarcerated, then joining the parliament of the streets and winning higher honor in our eyes,” Hontiveros said.
“An infinitely political animal, he sought the wise, even the purposes of such efforts, even from younger allies like me, in order to take his principal position on them as he had done at many other critical junctures of our nation's history. Raul Daza is a small boy who would not be bullied, who took up boxing to put muscle behind that resolve and who punched upward all throughout his life. He had a kind heart who gave as good as he got in the struggles of our times,” she added. — BM, GMA News