Briones bids Capitol post g'bye
BRIONES
After serving the public for years, Board Member Angelo Briones bids his Capitol post goodbye leaving a remarkable stint as head of 1,721 barangays in the Province of Iloilo.
With last official appearance in Friday's special session of the 9th Iloilo Sanggunian Panlalawigan (SP), Briones is back to his civilian life this week.
This, as his term ended with the Liga ng mga Barangay and correspondingly, as federation president and ex-officio member of the Iloilo SP.
Briones was duly recognized by colleagues with a Resolution passed honoring his service and great works for the Liga and the entire province.
In a farewell speech, Briones opened by expressing his gratitude to the SP body as he went on to ask for continued hard work and unity here. As take-off of his speech, he recalled a story about a boy gifted with long pants yet because of the individual decisions of family members, ended up with a suddenly short pants.
"Here in the chamber, we have different ideas," Briones said. "But I would like to say as a reminder that if we do not synchronize our acts, we might end up having short pants instead of the long pants that was given to us."
He then went on to give credit to colleagues referring to First District Board Member Richard Garin as "the most handsome," Second District Rodolfo Cabado as "the smartest." Vice Governor Rolex Suplico on the other hand was given credit by Briones for previous political backing and "for helping me secure my victory."
As such, he went on to give credence to the 9th SP body saying "this is indeed one of the best SP I ever had." Briones had been a member of at least five SP bodies.
So what is left for him?
‘I now become Citizen Angel," he quipped in jest while adding, "and now I am also back to being a full-time farmer. No more politics unless I get invited by my cousin, Fifth District Jett Rojas to their party. You see they always win."
Briones ended his farewell speech with a number of major requests on unfinished businesses.
To First District Board Member Mac Napulan, Briones appealed for attention and action on illegal fishing activities in Iloilo rivers and lakes. He also enjoined for collective SP attention on the deputization of barangay officials and tanods as traffic enforcers.
To Board Member Garin, he asked that the advocacy against illegal drug trade and proliferation be continued and strengthened. Briones as liga president was known as Capitol's anti-drug czar and led the campaign in Iloilo towns and schools.
"I am very grateful that I have influenced some of my colleagues in my manner of speaking and my "legacy" too in wearing denims with my suit," he jokingly ended. "No regrets here whatsoever but I will be missing the four walls of this chamber."