Mayor Mario D. Ortiz, the last of the legends
Mario D. Oritz, the boy from Sibonga, Cebu, who grew up to be Cebu City Mayor, was born on April 9, 1922. His parents were Santos Ortiz Sr. and Bernarda Diez. He went to the Colegio de San Carlos, later renamed as University of San Carlos and the University of Santo Tomas for his Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the Bar on March 31, 1948.
Lawyer Ortiz, who at the age of 19 graduated as a Reserve Officer of the ROTC Advance Course but did not earn the 2nd Lieutenant Commission because of lack of age requirement, became part of the Bohol Area Command operating in Cebu under Captain Casiano Cabagnot. Guerilla Ortiz was arrested by the Japanese Imperial Army on August 5, 1944 detained by the Kempetai or the dreaded Japanese military police at the Cebu Normal School, now a university, then later transferred at the Cebu Provincial Jail now the Cebu Museum. On January 1, 1945, New Year's Day, Mario Ortiz and his cellmate Abdon del Mar and companion with the help of Jose "Dodong" Maramara who smuggled a steel saw into the jail in order to break out while the guards were drunk (his escape is recorded in the book, The Koga Papers written by Col. Manuel F. Segura).
Lawyer Ortiz was elected as Cebu City councilor in 1959 (with the highest number of votes). He assumed as vice mayor in 1960 during the time of Mayor Serging Chiong Veloso Osmeña Jr. and as mayor of Cebu City in 1963 when lawyer Carlos "Carling" J. Cuizon (a street formerly named as "Potat" in Barangay Tinago was renamed after him by virtue of a city ordinance on May 8, 1989) ran for vice mayor. Ortiz held the position of mayor from September 18, 1963 to December 31, 1963.
In 1965, he was appointed as judge of the Court of First Instance of Negros, then as a member of the board of directors of the Philippine National Bank and Commissioner of the Commission on Elections during the time of president Marcos. He took his oath on July 30, 1985 and the term was to end on May 17, 1992. Commissioner Ortiz submitted a courtesy resignation to the Revolutionary President, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino in 1986. This happened during the Freedom Constitution. He fought for what he believed in. He went to the Supreme Court and won his case on June 22, 1988 entitling him of his retirement benefits).
Incidentally, the ponencia or the appointed writer of the opinion of the Supreme Court was fellow Cebuano Justice Marcelo Briones Fernan, who later became Chief Justice. The Chief Justice at that time was also a Visayan, Pedro "Pedring" Yap of San Isidro, Leyte.
Mario Ortiz married Julita Villacorta, who died ahead of him (became Assistant Regional Director of the Department of Education) and had the following children: Reynaldo (deceased), Danilo (who became a lawyer on April 19, 1978), Jerome, a businessman, Edwin, a businessman and vice president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Julie Marie (named after her mother), who married a Valencia.
Lawyer Ortiz, who died on July 31, 2015, was the "last of the legends" and in the same league of lawyers who became successful politicians, who were also known to be gentlemen in the courts. They were the cavaliers of the court, accorded respect among their peers, veterans, and neophytes and men imbued with wisdom of the law and treated people with fairness and justice. His likes were lawyer Ronald R. Duterte, who also became mayor of Cebu City and lawyer Honorato S. Hermosisima, the first lawyer of Sibonga (they were relatives of the Diez side of the family, a Diez. Angel S. Diez was elected councilor of Sibonga in the 1960's, a son of lawyer Hermosisima, Zacarias II, a political leader in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City is an avid chronicler of Sibonga and the old Cebu). An Ortiz named Constantino replaced the first appointed mayor of Sibonga, Antonio Ruiz. He then became the first elected mayor of Sibonga, Cebu.
Lawyer Adelino Sitoy, presently mayor of Cordova, Cebu and a former assemblyman wrote a book, "Mar-Lita, a Story of Faith, Love and Dignity" a biography of Mayor Mario and his wife, Julita Villacorta. The book was released last year.
ls Subdivision and was instrumental in petitioning the Cebu City government on January 4, 1990 to retain the name of Woolbright Drive (named after Edgar "Eddie" Woolbright, its builder) and that the ordinance naming a road as Dona Modesta Gaisano extend only at the entrance of the subdivision.
May the Cebu City government and the municipal government of Sibonga after the reglementary period of five years name a street in honor of Mayor Mario D. Ortiz, the last of the legends.
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