Retired judge dies

CEBU, Philippines - Retired Cebu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Executive Judge Fortunato de Gracia died yesterday at past 4:00 a.m. in a private hospital due to heart failure.

He was 74.

Lawyer Pamela Faye Pesidas, clerk of court of RTC Branch 15, confirmed to the media the death of de Gracia.

De Gracia was the presiding judge of Branch 15 from 2001 to 2008. He was replaced by Judge Samuel Malazarte.

“I just learned about it today. Actually last week we planned to visit him in the Chong Hua Hospital but his wife, Luciana, told us not to because of the busy schedule and there were many tubes attached to his body,” she said.

As of yesterday, the family had yet to decide on the venue for the wake but they were considering the Saint Peter’s along Imus St.

De Gracia had a bypass operation in the United States in 2000, the year before he was appointed as presiding judge of RTC Branch 15.  It was in 2007 when de Gracia was appointed as the executive judge of RTC and on September 25, 2008, during his birthday, he retired.

Pesidas recalled how unique and approachable de Gracia was. She said they encountered no problems under the supervision of de Gracia as their boss. He did not even stay in his chamber.

“He had a table across my table. He said he was lonely at his chamber so he stayed most of the time with us. He loved to interact with people or with his staff,” she said.

Pesidas added that de Gracia was generous to them and to the vendors because he bought them snacks.

“Hutdon og palit ni judge ang tinda sa mga vendors kay maluoy man siya unya ipakaun namo,” she said. (He would buy all the items the vendors were selling and gave these to us.)

De Gracia has six siblings - a policeman and five nurses.  In terms of work, Pesidas said de Gracia was strict but he was approachable so the workers were close to him. In fact, she said, de Gracia brought them to his hometown in Naga City, Cebu.

One time, she said, de Gracia told them that his grave and his coffin were all ready and he showed them. The judge wanted to be buried in Uling, Naga City, a public cemetery.

After de Gracia retired from service he was employed as PHILJA Coordinator for the Visayas and Mindanao but after two years, he resigned.

Last year, de Gracia went to the US for medication but instead kept on strolling. It was on Feb. 27, 2013 when de Gracia was confined at the hospital, a day after he arrived from US.

Pesidas said de Gracia was in a hurry in coming back to Cebu to attend the birthday celebration of his son this coming Saturday.  Executive Judge Meinrado Paredes told The FREEMAN that de Gracia was a “jolly, friendly and looked every inch healthy.”

“I was shocked to learn that he died of heart disease,” said Paredes. —/JPM (FREEMAN)