Zambo mourns death of ‘Tita Caling’

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Residents of this southern port city are mourning the loss of Mayor Ma. Clara Lobregat, who died before midnight Friday at the Medical Center Manila. She was 82.

The late mayor was a mother figure to Zamboangeños, who fondly called her "Tita Caling." She is best remembered as a kind-hearted mother who championed the rights of the poor and gave food, shelter and security to those who needed them.

Lobregat, who was known for her iron-fisted policy on terrorism, was instrumental in helping police and military authorities arrest suspected Abu Sayyaf bombers last year.

She also helped in stopping renegade members of the Moro National Liberation Front from occupying a vital site of the Cabatangan complex that overlooked the city proper in November 2001, prior to the arrest of MNLF leader Nur Misuari.

Lobregat was also instrumental in the city’s exclusion from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Her son, Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat, said his mother passed away at about 11:50 p.m. Friday. He could not yet give the official cause of her death, which was initially said to be due to low blood platelet count.

Lobregat said his mother’s remains will be flown to Zamboanga City today for a three-day necrological service and then sent back to Manila for interment beside the grave of her husband, Celso Lobregat Sr., at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City.

Lobregat first joined politics in the early 70s as a delegate to the constitutional convention. She continued her political career in the late 1980s by running for the legislature under the banner of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan. She completed three terms.

She subsequently ran and won as mayor and was to have completed three terms this year.

As a lawmaker, Lobregat authored a number of laws that benefited Zamboanga City. One law created a special economic zone and free port in the city, while others upgraded facilities in hospitals and schools.

Zamboanga City received more than P325 million in projects from the national government through her efforts.

When Lobregat was elected mayor, she made it her priority to make her constituents conscious of their heritage by rehabilitating and refurbishing the city’s landmarks, according to an article on the website, "Zamboanga Leaders… Then and Now."

The article also said that to her constituents, "she will always remain the good Samaritan in a mascota dress, a benefactor for the unfortunate, a mother, and a rallying point for Zamboangeño identity."

Lobregat was supposed to return to Zamboanga City yesterday to prepare the mass filing of candidates under the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino tomorrow.

City Councilor Charlie Mariano, who was supposed to run against Lobregat under the banner of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats party, was shocked by the death of his supposed rival.

"She had shown me the path of my political career," he said, adding that he once worked under Lobregat when she was a congresswoman.

Philippine News Agency director Leo Omoso, who knew the late mayor, described his reaction to her death as "laughter transformed into sadness."

City Councilor Beng Climaco, who is now acting mayor, said the atmosphere of the city was somber.

"The last words the mayor told me when she left for Manila (to celebrate) Christmas (was) to take good care of the city," Climaco said.

Lobregat had repeatedly exhorted her constituents to unite, appealing to them in the Chavacano dialect, "Man junto-junto kita (Let us be together)."

Residents, government officials and private sector leaders flooded local radio stations with calls expressing their condolence and sympathy to the family of Lobregat, who left behind five other children — Ditos, Pablo, Jomar, Ditas and Jerome.