PH’S highest award bestowed on Robredo

AHUNDRED days after his death, former Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo will be posthumously awarded the Quezon Service Cross, the highest award the country can bestow on a citizen.

President Benigno Aquino 3rd will confer posthumously the Quezon Service Cross award on Robredo who died in a plane crash off the coast of Masbate province last August.

Monday’s event in Malacañang marks the 100th day of the death of Robredo.

In an interview aired over staterun Radyo ng Bayan ( DzRB) on Sunday, Palace deputy spokesman Abigail Valte said that the President would lead the posthumous award- ing, the award to be received by Robredo’s family, lawyer Leni Robredo and their three daughters.

Valte said that the Quezon Service Cross is the highest award that the Republic of the Philippines can give to any Filipino, bestowed only with the concurrence of the two Houses of Congress.

“Of course, [ the] Quezon Service Cross . . . is the highest award that can be conferred on any citizen by the republic. And, sa akin pong pagkakaalam, apat pa lang po ‘yung nabibigyan nitong award na ito [ as far as I know, only four people have received the award] . . . while the President nominates the person for the award, kailangan po

merong concurrence ng Lower House at ng Senate [ the concurrence of the Lower House and Senate is needed],” she added.

The institutionalization of the Quezon Service Cross award was proposed by former president Manuel Roxas in honor of president Manuel Quezon to serve as the highest honor of the country.

In August 1946, Roxas submitted a proposed Joint Resolution to Congress for the creation of the Quezon Service Cross.

The Quezon Service Cross was created by virtue of Joint Resolution No. 4 series of 1946 enacted by both houses of Congress.

Although Congress was abolished upon the declaration of Martial Law, the Quezon Service Cross remained but was not awarded to any individual.

In a move to reform the awards system of the country in 2003, Executive Order 236 was issued, retaining the original intention of Roxas to have the Quezon Service Cross serve as the highest citation given by the government to a citizen.

In the Order of Precedence of Philippine Honors and State Deco- rations the Quezon Service Cross is the top recognition a Filipino can receive from the country.

Three individuals were awarded the Quezon Service Cross prior to the abolition of the Third Republic in 1972.

Since its creation in 1946, only four people, to date, have been awarded the Quezon Service Cross. Among those include the former president of the United Nations General Assembly Carlos Romulo, former presidents Emilio Aguinaldo and Ramon Magsaysay and the late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., the father of the current President.