Justice Regalado "Dodong" E. Maambong, Asturias, Cebu
Regalado rose to national prominence when he was appointed by then President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino in 1987 as commissioner of the Commission on Elections. Prior to that, he was appointed as Member of the constitutional commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution in 1986.
But not known by many, Justice Maambong, though born in Sta. Fe, Cebu, grew up in Brgy. Sta. Lucia, Asturias, Cebu. Regalado was the son of Atty. Joaquin Tagalog Maambong and Nicolasa (nicknamed Asay) Estrella. His father, Joaquin (originally from Guinayangan, Quezon) was admitted to the Bar on December 2, 1941. Joaquin also served as mayor of Asturias, provincial sheriff of Cebu and judge of Cebu City. Joaquin was the second chief executive of Asturias who held the title as mayor. He succeeded Ranulfo Toong and Joaquin was succeeded by Vicente C. Rallos.
Regalado was also elected assemblyman in the regular Batasang Pambansa in 1984, he was affiliated with the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan or KBL, the ruling party during the presidency of Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. Atty. Maambong was also a board member of Cebu in the 1980's. Regalado took up criminology in 1962 at the Philippine College of Criminology and became dean of the College of Criminology of the University of the Visayas in 1964. He was also Instructor of the National Bureau of Investigation Academy.
In 2001, Atty. Regalado Maambong (admitted to the Bar on February 23, 1962), who took his pre-law at the University of San Carlos and law course at the Ateneo de Manila ran for Governor of Cebu in 2001 but was defeated by a fellow brilliant lawyer, Pablo Paras Garcia.
A year after, Atty. Maambong was appointed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals and became the chairman of the 15th Division of the Court of Appeals. He retired in 2009 from the judiciary and government service. He was also presiding judge of Branch 22 of the Regional Trial Court in Cebu City.
Regalado's sister, Anita, who married an Agravante, also became a lawyer. The son of Anita, Alexander M. Agravante, also became a lawyer, and was admitted to the Bar on April 27, 1989, the same year his cousin Victor (son of Atty. Regalado Maambong) also passed the bar and signed his roll of attorney on April 28, 1989.
Victor became a board member of Cebu representing the 6th District of Cebu while Alexander became a member of the municipal council of Asturias, Cebu. The mother of Atty. Regalado Maambong was an Estrella. Celestino Estrella married Pacencia Alonso who comes from the Antonio Alonso-Juana Arambolo Family. Antonio is the forefather of the town's leaders Eugenio, Jose and Tomas.
The Maambongs and the Estrellas are the donors of school sites in Asturias, Cebu. In Banban, it was donated by Regino Maambong while the school in New Bago was donated by Ernesto Estrella.
Justice Regalado Estrella Maambong who was born on January 2, 1931 died on May 27, 2011 but his life work is worthy of emulation and would be forever be remembered if the people of Asturias would name a street in his honor. It would be a model story for the youth. He was the boy from the barrio who conquered Manila by making it in the list of those who passed the 1961 bar examinations with flying colors, part of the drafting of the 1987 Constitution, became COMELEC Commissioner, and Justice of the Court of Appeals.
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