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CAGAYANLifestyle TIMES Weekly DE ORO
Volume 8 | No. 40 | Cagayan de Oro City | May 17-23, 2021
A Just and Forthright Life Well Lived
Filomeno Avanceña Bautista, Jr., 93 A
The Bautista Family during their salad days Rolando, Teddy, Dodong, Herietta and seated with doll, Baby
Dodong with Mayor Moreno and PVB First VP Mike Villa-real
T THE end of the fourth month of his nine decades and three years on Earth, Filomeno Avanceña Bautista entered into eternal life on April 29, 2021. “Dodong” as he was fondly known to family and friends, was a model of integrity who was looked up to by everyone who had the privilege of knowing and working with him. He had a 45-year career with the one and only job he held in his professional life, as a career executive with Del Monte Philippines Inc. (DMPI), formerly Philippine Packing Corporation, as PPC, where he rose through the ranks to become a purchasing manager, hospital administrator and manager of DMPI Cooperative, reaching the pinnacle as President of the Cooperative Union of the Philippines (CUP) where he served for three consecutive terms. In his civic affairs, he was also a member of the Cagayan de Oro Historical and Cultural Commission during the administration of the late Mayor Pablo P.
Filomeno A. Bautista, Jr. Magtajas. Dodong was the second child of his namesake the eminent historian Filomeno “Nono” Marcos Bautista y Abellanosa and Hospecia “Pesing” Avanceña y Chaves. According to a tribute read at his wake by his nephew, Judge Vincent “Vince” Bautista Rosales, the only son of his elder sister Henrietta (“Tita”), he was actually the third in a succession of Filomenos in the family. The first Filomeno was his grandfather Filomeno Bautista y Neri. Born on April 25, 1890 in Cagayan de Misamis, his father Nono personally witnessed the Fiesta Nacional of January 10, 1899 celebrating the Philippine independence from Spain. A government scholar at the Philippine Normal School, he was appointed principal of
Mambajao Elementary School in Camiguin and eventually became the Division Academic Supervisor of Misamis, Surigao and Bukidnon. For this momentous birth of his first son, Nono wrote in his diary: “On May 26, 1927, a baby boy was born to us in Mission Hospital. Rays of sunshine were seen in the family and our third child was named Filomeno. Esther was fond of him and she would oftentimes come up to his crib and kiss him. She called her Papa Junior. At the delivery were Miss Florence Fox and Miss Ortega, myself and my mother in-law (Fortunata Chaves Avancena). Pesing stayed in the hospital for 9 days and Dr. Ramos just charged us P75.” “As recounted by my mom, Tito Dodong was sickly as a child. He
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suffered from nephritis and Lolo (Nono), then assigned in Surigao, would often order from his friend a ship captain, to buy Bear Brand milk for him in Cebu,” Judge Vince recalls. He grew up in the family residence in Licoan, the present site of a convenience store next to Sabal Hospital. He learned to play the violin which he didn’t like very much since he was teased by his friends for engaging in an effeminate pursuit. But he would also join his barkada in making kabit on tartanillas all the way to Divisoria and back on their roller skates. When the family put up the Cagayan de Oro Hotel sometime in 1938-1939 next to Plaza Divisoria at the corner of what is now Tiano Brothers and Tirso Neri streets, it was the first recorded public BAUTISTA/PAGE 5