Navotas mayor dies of cancer

Navotas residents are in mourning after this tiny coastal town's mayor, who had long been ill, died Thursday evening.

Mayor Cipriano "Efren" Bautista, who would have turned 71 this July, died Thursday at his residence at 313 Gov. Pascual St., Navotas, at around 6 p.m., Mario Tibolan, a town hall employee, said.

Reports said the mayor had long been suffering from cancer.

According to Tibolan, on Thursday morning, Bautista asked permission from his doctors at St. Luke's Medical Center in Quezon City where he was confined, to go home.

"Since he looked fine, his doctors consented," Tibolan said.

Tibolan said Bautista played with his grandchildren, but at about 6 p.m., he suffered a seizure. He never recovered.

During the past couple of months, Navotas residents were kept in limbo as to the health of their mayor.

Bautista failed to report for work at the municipal hall since he went on a 30-day leave starting March 13 to undergo medical tests in the United States.

Local officials, even Vice Mayor Tobias "Toby" Tiangco, now the acting mayor, refused to discuss the cause of the mayor's death.

During the 1998 elections, Navotas became controversial as a feud between political supporters of Bautista and his rival Miguelita del Rosario, resulted in the burning of the town hall.

When Bautista was officially declared the winner, one of his promises was that he would make Navotas "rise from the ashes."

But Bautista's administration was hounded by the political protest of Del Rosario and later of his fragile health.

Last Tuesday, Bautista officially designated Tiangco as acting mayor.

Tiangco has served as acting mayor several times, the longest of which was during the election protest of Del Rosario which lasted for more than eight months.

Bautista's remains will be brought Monday to the Navotas cultural center which also serves as the town hall.

Tiangco, after assuming the vacancy created by Bautista's death, offered his condolences to the deceased mayor's family.

"Mayor Bautista, though he served for such a short time, wanted only the best for the people of Navotas and we are saddened by his leaving us," he said, "We would have preferred assuming office in more cheerful circumstances."

Hundreds of municipal employees wore black, mourning Bautista's death, when they reported for work yesterday.

The deceased mayor, unknown to many, was one of the first licensed marine engineers and naval architects in the country, holding license number 3.

The first two were his teachers at the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Institute (NAMEI) in Santa Ana, Manila. He was born in Navotas on July 11, 1929, the youngest of six children of very poor parents.

According to Arthur Bautista, 34, the fourth of the mayor's eight children, his father often told them of his hardship as a boy in Novotas.

Arthur said his father told them that his family could be described as "poorer than mice," surviving on rice and salt. A meal of rice and "tuyo" was a feast.

Seeing intelligence in the young Bautista, the mayor's siblings got together to send the youngest through the public schools of Navotas and Malabon where he finished elementary and high school, respectively, with high marks.

Arthur said his father was supposed to get the first government license as a marine engineer and naval architect in 1953 but pointed out that his two teachers should be the first.

Armed with his license, Bautista worked as an employee in two fishing firms where he was responsible for its ship repair and building operations.

Securing financial backing and armed with his ship building expertise, Bautista set up Navotas Industrial Corp. that pioneered in ship building and repair in the 1950s. Bautista entered politics in 1961 as barrio captain of Barrio Daanghari, Navotas. In 1968, Bautista was elected municipal councilor. In 1986, he was elected vice mayor. He is survived by his widow, Judith, and children Mirriam, Daniel, Cipriano, Jr., Arthur, Bea, Benny, Elsa and Michael.