Alcala welcomes a son home

ALCALA, Pangasinan — Two years ago, gloom descended on this town when a native daughter — the country’s first SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) fatality — arrived home.

Today, however, the town bursts into celebration with the homecoming of a native son, Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano, the highest-ranking Filipino-American in the US Army.

Local officials, led by Mayor Manuel Collado and Vice Mayor Clemente Arboleda, are readying a red carpet welcome for Soriano who will be recognized as an "outstanding son" during the town’s 129th Foundation Day.

"Before our town was famous because of SARS. Now that I am the mayor, I want to change that impression and make people see that it is here where the highest-ranking Filipino-American official of the US Army hails from," Collado said in the vernacular.

Collado, who defeated his own brother, Butch, a former mayor, in the May 10 polls, recalled that on his first day as mayor, he wrote Soriano to invite him to return to his hometown.

He said he initially relayed his invitation to designer Rusty Lopez, Soriano’s first cousin.

"I want my constituents, especially the children, to emulate Gen. Soriano. We are so proud to have a townmate like him," he said.

Soriano arrived in Manila last Thursday. He paid courtesy calls on President Arroyo and Armed Forces chief Gen. Narciso Abaya the following day.

This morning, he will be at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City for military honors, after which he will proceed here as guest of honor and speaker at the Foundation Day rites.