FORMER Quezon City vice mayor Rosario “Charito” Planas passed away on Thursday. She was 87.
“It is with a heavy heart that in behalf of the people of Quezon City, I announce the passing of our dear former vice mayor, Charito Planas,” Mayor Herbert Bautista said.
“Vice Mayor Planas was our loving mentor, tita (aunt), leader and friend. Vice Mayor Planas only had the best interest of the city and nation in mind in all her endeavors as a city official and freedom fighter during the dark days of our nation’s history,” Bautista added.
Planas served as Quezon City vice mayor from 1992 to 1995, and as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s spokesperson, with the rank of undersecretary in the Office of the President, from 2010 to 2011.
Planas’ last public appearance was during Bautista’s eighth State of the City Address last October.
A necrological service will be held in her honor on Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Carlos Albert Hall, Quezon City Hall.
Planas was born April 28, 1931 in Tondo, Manila. Her sister, Carmen, was the first woman city councilor of Manila.
Charito Planas was a staunch opposition leader during the Marcos dictatorship. She led the campaign against the ratification of the 1973 Constitution, and was among the opposition leaders arrested after the declaration of martial law in 1972.
She was later drafted in the Lakas ng Bayan (Laban) slate, led by then-Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., in the 1978 interim Batasan elections.
Planas fled the country after the elections to join the anti-Marcos forces in the United States, and returned to the country after the 1986 People Power revolution.
Meanwhile, the Quezon City government’s pride council is expecting 10,000 supporters and participants from different lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities to join its annual pride march on Dec. 9.
Quezon City is the only locality in Metro Manila that has enacted an ordinance focused on gender equality and sensitivity.
Mayor Bautista signed the Anti-Discrimination Policy of Quezon City Ordinance in 2014.
In another development, the 32-member Quezon City Council passed a resolution authorizing Bautista to extend financial aid to 137 informal settler families to be affected by the construction of the University of the Philippines’ employees housing project in Barangay UP.
Also, to mark the 420th anniversary of the martyrdom of San Pedro Bautista, the council passed a resolution adopting the Spanish saint as one of the patrons of Quezon City.