POEA building named after Ople

Starting today, the building of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) at EDSA and Ortigas Avenue in Mandaluyong City will be known as the Blas F. Ople Building.

The building will be renamed in ceremonies at the POEA marking the 77th birthday of the late foreign affairs secretary who, as labor minister during the Marcos regime, pioneered the overseas employment industry in the Philippines.

POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz said the Blas Ople marker will be unveiled today at the lobby of the building that would bear his name.

"Secretary Ople is recognized as the father of the Philippine overseas employment program, and the marker will remain in the lobby of the building as dutiful remembrance to Secretary Ople," she said.

The unveiling of the marker highlights a series of activities to mark Ople’s 77th birthday today.

A Holy Mass will be celebrated at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, Makati, where Ople was given a hero’s burial last Dec. 21.

In the afternoon, the Sentro ng Sining at Kultura ng Bulacan in Malolos will also be renamed Gat Blas Ople Hall-Sentro ng Kabataan, Sining at Kultura.

A marker will also be unveiled renaming Anilao Road in Malolos the Blas Ople Road.

The Hagonoy East Central School and the Mayor Ramon Trillana High School in Hagonoy will also be renamed in honor of Ople.

At 10 a.m., the Philippine Normal University will confer a posthumous award on Ople in recognition of his long and dedicated service to the nation.

At 12 noon, Ople’s book, "The Many Faces of a Global Nation" will be launched in ceremonies at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Pasay City.

Other activities honoring Ople will be held in Hagonoy Poblacion:

• Free medical treatment and operation of poor patients by Dr. Godofredo Ng and his colleagues in the North Carolina Medical Mission at the Emilio Perez Memorial District Hospital in Hagonoy, Bulacan.

• A medical and dental mission at the back of the Hagonoy Municipal Hall.

• A mobile passporting service at the DFA.

• Authentication of births and marriages by the National Statistics Office.

• A job fair.

• Free overseas calls to OFWs by their relatives, courtesy of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.

• A food festival.

Ople died last Dec. 14 aboard an aircraft flying from Tokyo, Japan to Bahrain to meet President Arroyo after an official mission in Japan.

Ople served as labor minister, assemblyman member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, senator, Senate president, and secretary of foreign affairs. – Mayen Jaymalin