Rizalino "Zaldy" Albano

Rizalino “Zaldy “ Albano was born on June 25, 1936 in the Philippines to Bernardo Albano and Adela Vinoya . He was the fifth among their nine children. He married Roselita Carabillas in 1970 and had four children namely ; Raphael Jovito, Racquel, Rainier and Rizelle. He has five granddaughters; Amber, Nicole, Arianna, Keisha Elise and Maxine.

Zaldy graduated from the Mapua Institute of Technology in the Philippines with a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering, Class 1958. In the same year, he took the Board Examination for Civil Engineers given nationwide and garnered the 4th place. His career began as a Junior Civil Engineer in the Department of Public Highways in Manila holding various positions and worked his way up to Assistant Division Chief in the Bridge Design, Highways and Surveys. Zaldy was the representative of the Department of Public Highways in the joint venture with the Consulting Engineers from other countries. He was also assigned together with other Filipino and Japanese engineers when they conducted the studies and design of San Juanico Bridge. It is the longest bridge in the Philippines spanning a body of seawater. San Juanico Bridge stretches from Samar to Leyte across the San Juanico Strait with a total length of more than 2 kilometers. He was also the resource speaker in the design of bridges in Southern Mindanao. In 1969, he was awarded the Presidential Citation by the President of the Republic of the Philippines for his outstanding services to the Nation, by virtue of a remarkable performance in accomplishing missions in behalf of Infrastructure and Public Work projects.

He immigrated here in the United States in the year 1976 with his family following a year after and passed the Board Examinations for Professional Engineer in the branch of Civil Engineering in July 1978. He worked in the County of Riverside as Assistant Civil Engineer for a while and then transferred to the Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) District 7, Los Angeles, California in the year 1980. He started as an Engineering Technician and was promoted to Junior Civil Engineer in less than a month and was assigned on the job training in five (5) different divisions for two (2) years. He held several positions before he became the Project Engineer until his retirement in the year 2006.

While working with the Department of Transportation (CALTRANS), he received multiple awards. The following are a few of his significant accomplishments and awards:

1. As Structural and Design Engineer, he worked in both offices of Project Studies and Design and produced a number of projects that have become landmarks in District 7’s Transportation Network namely, Freeway 105, Highway 101, and the Interchange of Oxnard Boulevard in the county of Ventura.

2. Superior Accomplishment Award by the District Director Robert W. Sassaman in the Design of the New Santa Clara River Bridge on Highway 101 and the interchange of Oxnard Boulevard in the County of Ventura year 2001.

3. Certificate of Award from the Federal Highway Administration for the Most Outstanding Value Engineering Study in the year 2002. Caltrans Statewide.

4. A Special Recognition was presented to him for being a member of the Value Analysis Team for Ventura 101 (Mussel Shoals/ La Conchita) in the 2003 Quality Team Award.

5. A letter of recognition and commendation from the District Director Doug Failing was received for his hard work and the many years training and coaching new civil engineers to carry on in his footsteps have made an important contribution to the Department.

These awards were noteworthy recognition and appreciation of his more than 26 years of dedicated service to the people of the State of California. His display of a wonderful knack for solving problems was very much in him. He has earned the trust, respect and friendship of all who have worked with him.

As a family man, he was a very devoted husband to his wife and as a father, he was more serious and disciplinarian during the younger years but deep inside, he was a very caring and generous Dad. He truly lived life to the fullest through simple pleasures like; bowling, dancing, exchanging pleasantries with friends and family, driving, going places and spending time with his family especially with his grandchildren and at times with nephews and nieces. He has an uncanny ability to reach people in a deep and positive way. One would gain so much knowledge and wisdom in life once given the opportunity to communicate with him being the “Genius” that he was.

“LET US GIVE ZALDY A BIG BIG HAND”