In Memoriam

Dr. Eva Marie A. Ratilla, 59

January 4, 2021

Chemistry professor Eva Marie A. Ratilla., PhD passed away on Dec. 14 due to chronic myeloid leukemia and complications of diabetes. She was 59.

“Ever the scientist, she kept abreast of the latest research and advances on the molecular aspects of treating her condition and sought to obtain these latest medical treatments, even joining in experimental drug trials. Through it all, Eva performed her duties and responsibilities as professor at the institute to the fullest, where she taught Advanced Inorganic Chemistry courses too undergraduate and graduate students,” the UP Diliman College of Science (CS) posted in its Facebook page.

She was instrumental in the establishment of KKP-DICAF (Kapisanan ng mga Kimika sa Pilipinas – Division of Inorganic Chemistry and Allied Fields) where she served as its first Chairperson. KKP-DICAF hosted the 10th EURASIA Conference on Chemical Sciences in Manila in January 2008.

Ratilla also contributed in the early development of the Materials Science Program of the UPD CS and College of Engineering. Her areas of specialization are in Inorganic Chemistry, Chiral and Molecular Recognition and Discrimination, and Computational Chemistry. She had numerous researches published in ISI journals and presented in local and international conferences.

Ratilla earned her PhD in Chemistry from Iowa State University in 1990. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan in 1998.

Source: UP Diliman FB page

UPCM Professor Emeritus Adelaida Dalmacio-Cruz

UPCM Professor Emeritus Adelaida Dalmacio-Cruz MD Class 1953 passed away today December 29, 2020. She is a mother to all her students and our beloved teacher who taught us to love Pathology. We will miss her. May she Rest In Peace. Our condolences to her children Chito (UPCM 79), Raul (UPCM 80), Gina and to the rest of her family. (Photo taken at the 2004 UPMASA AGC in California).

Source: UP Medical Alumni Society in America (UPMASA) FB Page

National Artist Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio, 90

National Artist for Theatre and University Professor Emerita Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio passed away yesterday, Dec. 29. She was 90.

Known as the “Grand Dame of Southeast Asian Children’s Theater,” Lapeña-Bonifacio was conferred the title National Artist for Theatre, the country’s highest recognition for artists, on October 24, 2018.

A playwright, puppeteer and an educator, she was the founding artistic director of Teatrong Mulat ng Pilipinas, a children’s theater and puppet theater company established in 1977.

Upon her retirement in 1995, UP bestowed upon Lapeña-Bonifacio the rank of University Professor Emerita“for her exceptional achievements and outstanding service.”

Among her works were 10 books, 16 plays, 30 plays for children and more than 130 short stories for children published by the Philippine Journal of Education. She has also produced a number of poems, short stories and essays.

Among her notable plays were “Sita & Rama: Papet Ramayana,” staged at the 2006 Kaohsiung Country International Puppet Festival in Taiwan, at the 2017 UP Diliman Month and “Papet Pasyon (The Passion Play in Puppetry)” which was first presented at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1985 and henceforth became a yearly presentation at UP, Intramuros and other provinces since 2006.

Two of her short stories were translated into other languages, namely “Tia Purificacion,” (German) and published in Frauen Auf Den Philippinen Frauen in Germany and “The Stairs,” (Dutch) and published as part of the book Het Ver-Welken Van De Regenbloesem in Amsterdam.  She managed the Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio Papet Teatro Museo.

Lapeña-Bonifacio received numerous awards, among them the Carlos Palanca Memorial Award in Literature for One Act Play for “Dalawang Bayani” in 1995, and the second prize, Full Length Play for “Chinchina and the Five Mountains” in 2006.  In 2017, she received the City of Manila Outstanding Citizen Award and the Quezon City Most Outstanding Citizen Award in 2013.

She earned her MA (Speech-Theatre Arts) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1958, where, through a Fulbright-Smith Mundt Scholarship, she enrolled in the Beloit College of Graduate Summer Theatre Scholarship (1957-1958).  She graduated with an AB (English) from UPD in 1953.

Born on April 4, 1930 in Binondo, Manila, she was married to Professor Emeritus of Sociology Manuel Flores Bonifacio, and is the mother of Prof. Amihan Bonifacio-Ramolete, PhD, the current College of Arts and Letters dean.

TeatrongMulat announced on their Facebook page that Lapeña-Bonifacio’s wake is scheduled from Dec. 30 to 31, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Imperial Classic, G/F Funeraria Paz Araneta Ave. Visitors are requested to comply with the IATF health protocols.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be given to Teatrong Mulat ng Pilipinas Foundation, Inc. through GCash 09189032040 (Ma Amihan R), BDO S/A 006520231060 (Ma. Amihan Ramolete), or LandBank S/A 3076 1038 86 (Ma. Amihan Ramolete).

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of National Artist Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio, University of the Philippines Professor Emeritus and Founding Artistic Director of Teatrong Mulat ng Pilipinas at 7 AM, December 29, 2020 at the age of 90.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be given to Teatrong Mulat ng Pilipinas Foundation, Inc. through GCash 09189032040 (Ma Amihan R), BDO S/A 006520231060 (Ma. Amihan Ramolete), or LandBank S/A 3076 1038 86 (Ma. Amihan Ramolete).

Source: https://upd.edu.ph/amelia-lapena-bonifacio/

Gwendolyn R. Tecson, 74

December 10, 2020

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Gwendolyn R. Tecson, Professor Emeritus of the UP School of Economics (SE) passed away on Dec. 6. She was 74 years old.

A lifelong academic, she joined SE as instructor in 1971 and served the School in various administrative capacities, including director for public affairs, chair of the undergraduate committee, and later department chair. She retired as full professor in 2011 and was subsequently appointed as professor emeritus.

Her students remember Tecson for her lucid teaching and her empathy for students, though these never diluted her insistence on excellence and academic integrity.

Tecson was an early product of the SE master’s program. Tecson took her undergraduate degree from Saint Theresa’s College, which honored her with its Teresa’s Light Award for Education in 2019. After her M.A. from U.P. she completed her PhD at Hitotsubashi University under the renowned Ippei Yamazawa, becoming the first Filipino to complete an economics doctorate from Japan. She was fluent in Japanese and French.

Tecson’s main line of research was international trade and industrial economics. She was an important member of the group that published two highly influential works that at the time were the most extensive and authoritative studies of the country’s system of industrial incentives. The first [Bautista, Power, Tecson, et al. 1979] covered the 1970s and showed how the structure of protection in the 1970s had not significantly changed since the 1960s. The second [Medalla, Tecson, et al.2 vols. 1995] documented improvements following the liberalization of the 1980s and, at the same time, warned of their partial reversal. Apart from trade, Tecson studied the development role of small and medium scale industries and was interested in the peculiar trends of Japanese foreign direct investment in the Philippines.

Tecson was a meticulous and thorough researcher with an eye for detail. She was one of the few practitioners doing industry- and firm-level studies to regularly include interviews of firm-owners and practitioners aside from simply relying on statistics and desk research. She conducted research focused particularly on the automotive and electronics industries. Together with a Japanese sociologist professor and friend, she made many trips to Sta. Rosa, Laguna, for exam-ple, to interview workers in car assembly plants.

She never wore her faith on her sleeve but lived it fully. She was a devoted member of Notre Dame de Vie, a Catholic secular institute, originally founded in France, whose main formation center in the Philippines is at Encanto, Angat in Bulacan. It was there that she spent her last few years.

She will be deeply missed by colleagues, friends, and students alike.

Source: https://upd.edu.ph/tecson-74/

Thomasians mourn death of Fontanilla, ‘ever smiling, welcoming face of UST’

December 9, 2020

Tributes poured in for the late Giovanna Fontanilla, UST’s longtime public affairs chief and one of the most well-loved figures on campus who died of a heart attack last Dec. 6. She was 62.

For much of her 41 years in UST, Fontanilla served as the “face” of the University, an ambassadress of Thomasian culture and education, while also steering the school through some of its “most challenging PR crises.”

Under Fontanilla, UST helped promote news media literacy and citizen journalism, which was acknowledged by ABS-CBN’s news chief Ging Reyes.

“Her positive energy and compassionate leadership were an inspiration. She strongly believed in providing relevant tools and worthy role models in the training and education of future journalists and media practitioners,” Reyes said in a statement.

Varsitarian publications adviser Joselito Zulueta recalled how Fontanilla “bore the pressures of handling the public affairs of the Pontifical University—more than four centuries old and admittedly not a controversy-free institution—with grace and optimism.”

“Even during the most challenging of PR crises, she never lost her cool,” he said. “For many people in the media like me, she was the ever smiling, welcoming face of UST for nearly three decades. We will miss her terribly.”

Felipe Salvosa II, head of UST’s journalism program, described Fontanilla as a “steady hand and a stabilizing force,” citing “her professionalism, dedication and loyalty.”

Fontanilla was also best known for her positive energy, which was often seen during orientation for new students. “She’s always beaming with her smile and demeanor,” said Central Student Council Secretary Rafael Lipat, who helped organize one such event in 2018.

“I love her enthusiasm and zest for life,” said Faye Abugan, assistant director of UST’s Communications Bureau, who also described Fontanilla as a “visionary” for initiating the establishment of the Educational Technology Center, the school’s main multimedia resource arm.

Her one-time boss, former UST secretary general Fr. Isidro Abaño, O.P., said he and Fontanilla started major campus events like the annual Christmas Gala, and established UST Tiger Radio.

Fontanilla was also remembered by those whose careers she had inspired, such as Haydee Claire Dy, who was her student in speech communication at UST’s College of Education.

“Every time I teach my college students, I remember how this professor taught us, when I was a student and those strategies I apply in my own classes are how I saw it in this professor,” said Dy, who now teaches at the Lyceum of the Philippines University.

Hernandez’s Facebook post

Said Philippe Jose Hernandez, assistant director of the Communications Bureau: “She mentored so many along the way, having juggled office work with teaching, and left behind a legacy that those remaining must build on.”

Fontanilla was considered one of UST’s most dedicated educators, having been feted with the Dangal ng UST Award in 2001. It was a recognition as well of her loyalty to the university where she earned her education degree, magna cum laude, in 1979 and her doctorate in English language studies in 2017.

In between, she received a master’s degree in education from the University of the Philippines in 1982, and took a specialist training course at the Loughborough University in England in 1994.

She is survived by daughter Genevieve Fontanilla Trinidad and her daughter’s husband Al Niño Trinidad, and son Immanuel Fontanilla.

Jade Veronique V. Yap

Source: varsitarian.net

In Memoriam: Esther Vibal, trailblazer in Philippine textbook publishing

She was a disciplined career woman who led the biggest textbook publishing house in the country

ANCX Staff


Young Esther at age 15, while still studying at Colegio de Santa Rosa, Intramuros.

She was known as a trailblazer, a tireless worker, one among a rare breed of women whose careers in publishing had that weight of national importance. 

Esther Asunción Vibal, who founded Vibal Publishing in 1953 with her husband HP Vibal, began her career in the newspaper business in post-war Manila. Fresh out of the University of the Philippines where she was an English major, a scholar, and a writer for the esteemed college paper, the lady from Camiling, Tarlac started out selling advertising space for the Manila Times. This was before she was given assignments to write for the women’s section of the newspaper and wrote a column called “A Little of Everything.” The man who interviewed her for the Times job, editor and owner, Joaquin “Chino” Roces, would become her mentor in both journalism and the business of print. 


Esther Vibal as a UP junior receiving a garland of flowers from the senior class, an annual ritual conducted at the university until the early 1970s

The post-war years were exciting times in Philippine print media. Esther’s peers included the young, spunky reporter Ninoy Aquino, and she found herself polishing her craft by working with the luminaries of the period, among them E. Aguilar Cruz, Carmen Guerrero Nakpil and Jose Luna Castro. 

The young Esther was known in her circle as the frugal one, skipping meals to cut back on her expenses, always saving 3/4 of her pay while her contemporaries spent their salaries on lavish purchases. There were times she got her sustenance, according to her son Gus Vibal, solely from powdered milk.

She was smart about money and knew early on the value of investing in real estate—which would serve her well when she and her husband quit their jobs and decided to venture into their own. Esther’s property in what was then Highway 54 (now Edsa) became the collateral for a loan that will help establish what would become Vibal Publishing House Inc. 


Even in college, Esther found time to be both scholar and activist. As UP student council secretary, Esther was one of the student leaders who visited then President Manuel Roxas on a courtesy call.

In 1957, through Vibal, she launched Science in Schools, the country’s pioneer science education publication, a supplementary school magazine created for teachers. It was the year the first artificial earth satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched, and science education had become increasingly important for the West and the Philippine government. Esther saw the advantage of melding her company’s mission with that of the larger world. 

When she finally went full time into the business in 1961, she launched Vibal’s textbook publishing division which the house would eventually be known for. While she immediately wanted to focus on sales, the newspaperwoman in her knew the importance of quality content. According to her son Gus, her mother was very hands-on with the production of the company’s text books, hiring only the best illustrators and authors to put these schooling tools together, sometimes even editing the books herself. 

She was a very disciplined career woman, according to Gus, as well as a very determined salesman. She would travel to different parts of the country, meeting with school superintendents and different textbook boards, bringing with her copies of Vibal’s books, courting them to use her titles. 


Esther as a working UP student. Here she is walking to the Manila Times office, 1949.

While HP’s debilitating stroke was certainly one of the most trying moments in Esther’s life, it didn’t stop the woman from continuing on. She quickly created an executive committee to help her run the publishing business—a decision that led to new successes for the corporation, enabling Vibal to participate in the World Bank text book publishing teaching and distribution program. 

Esther Vibal passed away last Saturday, November 28, leaving the leadership of the family business in the hands of her son Gus. He says her mother was already 92 when she decided to step back from working, and that even in her advanced age, Esther remained sharp and would even regularly climb the stairs to her sixth floor office. 

She may have left a company of 400 employees in a pandemic but was able to see it pivot to relevance for the contemporary age. Vibal, after all, is no longer just a book publishing business but has also gone into online courses and synchronous virtual classrooms—even before the global health crisis necessitated these tools. 


A staunch advocate of women, Esther is shown here at a private meeting with then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton during the latter’s visit to Manila during the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting on 20 November 1996.

In 2010, she was given the Ernst & Young Women Entrepreneur Award “for blazing a trail in entrepreneurship, leadership and community development.” Under her management, the award said, “Vibal Publishing dominated the textbook publishing market, accounting for 50 percent of textbooks distributed to 18 million Filipino children in public and secondary schools.” 

Esther Vibal said then that she was not just in this field of publishing for profit but “the spirit of sharing and [to] make it possible for every child to have an education, because it’s every child’s human right.” 

Source: https://news.abs-cbn.com

Esther A. Vibal (1923-2020)

December 4, 2020

Image may contain: 2 people, text that says 'ESTHER VIBAL 1923 2020 It is with deep sorrow that we inform you of the death of our beloved matriarch Esther A. Vibal on November 28, 2020. In lieu of flowers and mass cards, donate to support the arts and culture programs of Vibal Foundation, of which she was the benefactress for many years. Vibal Foundation, Inc. BPI Sto. Domingo Account # 0211 0402 89'

It is with deep sorrow that we inform you of the passing of our beloved founder Esther A. Vibal on November 28, 2020. We offer our sincerest prayers for the eternal repose of her soul.
EAV’s legacy will live on forever.

Source: Vibal Foundation FB page

Lawyer Paul Jomar Alcudia; 54

December 1, 2020

Lawyer Paul Jomar Alcudia has passed away due to a heart attack. He was 54.

He is survived by his father Quintin, mother Ma. Luz, wife Carmella, only daughter Pamella, brother Ronald and sister Marilou.

Born on July 21, 1966 in Iloilo, Paul spent most of his student life in Manila, particularly at the University of the Philippines Diliman where he finished his high school and college education.

After graduating from the UP School of Economics in 1988, Paul proceeded to take up law. In 1993, Paul graduated from UP College of Law and passed the Bar exams that same year.

As a lawyer, Paul became a member of International Pro Bono Alliance which provided free legal services to migrant workers in distress. He was also an active member of the Volunteer Lawyers Against Discrimination.

Paul was a member of the Faculty of the De La Salle University College of Law.

“Another good—no, Great —guy gone too soon,” former Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te said of Paul’s passing on Twitter.

Te described Paul as “one heck of a lawyer—greatly skilled, fiercely committed, deeply passionate” for his clients, many of whom Paul helped pro bono.

Unknown to most people, Nonoy, as Paul was fondly called by his close relatives and friends, was also a trivia buff. Fellow trivia enthusiasts gave him the moniker “El Ponente” because it was Paul who always penned for his team the final answers to trivia questions during pub quizzes which he attended regularly if he was not busy with his court cases.

Trivia books author Bong Barrameda, one of Paul’s teammates, broke the news of Paul’s death to his trivia quiz circle Utak Atak: “Guys, our dear Ponente Atty. Paul has passed away… Such a sad, sad day.”

Friends, colleagues, relatives and fellow trivia aficionados paid their last respects to Paul at his wake at the Santuario de San Antonio Chapels on McKinley Road, Forbes Park, Makati City.

His remains will be cremated on Tuesday. There will also be a necrological Mass on Zoom.

Source: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1366621/lawyer-paul-jomar-alcudia-54

Leopoldo O. Medina (1937-2020)

November 27, 2020

Leo was the third child of eight children, born December 1, 1937 to Irineo Medina and Consuelo Ocampo Medina.  He is a graduate of the University of the Philippines with a Teacher’s Diploma in Music Composition and Conducting.  He is also a graduate of the University of North Dakota with a Masters Degree in Music Education.

His first visit to the U.S. was in 1961 when he performed as a musician for the Filipinescas Dance Company during the group’s seven-month tour of Europe and the U.S.  It was while he was on tour that he knew he wanted to return to the U.S. someday. He also taught a band at the Torres High School in Manila for five years and as choirmaster at St. Andrews Theological Seminary in Quezon City for two years.

During his early years in the U.S., he accepted the challenge of cold weather and, with a teaching contract, he taught nice rural kids with the Minnesota Public Schools for seven years.  He acquired his U.S. citizenship while residing and teaching in Heron Lake, Minnesota.

In 1974, his wife Flordelis Peleo Medina, a medical doctor and a graduate of the University of Santo Thomas College of Medicine in Manila, Philippines, quit her job at the community hospital in Heron Lake, Minnesota to accept a position in Warm Springs State Hospital in Warm Springs, Montana.  They moved out west not realizing Leo would be retiring in the neighboring city of Butte, Montana.  Then they moved to Butte permanently.

Since 1975, he had worked for Butte School district as a music teacher.  In 1980, he became music director of the Butte Symphony for fifteen years.

He was a member of the Montana and American String Teachers Association.  Several of his compositions such as “Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in Three Movements” and “Philippines Revisited” were performed by the Butte Symphony.  His “Variations for Two Pianos” was commissioned by the Montana Music Teachers Association in 1986.

In 1995, Leo had retired from Butte High School as well as the Butte Symphony’s music director.  Leo and Flor moved to Helena, Montana to be closer to their oldest daughter, Cristina, husband Ed Caplis and future grandchildren, Tara and Ben.  Their youngest daughter, Monica, was living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at that time.

They also spent many months visiting the Philippines.  His parents left him some land that was meant for all their siblings.  Realizing that his brothers and sisters, who were all living in the states and Canada, were not so bent anymore on returning soon to manage the family property.  He took it upon himself to become custodian of their land with the help of sisters Carmencita and Adela.

In Helena, Lew became involved with the Music Ministry of Covenant United Methodist Church for more than ten years.  In December of 2003, as campaign chairman, Leo thanked the church and especially Wally and Fran Waddell for donating a set of three octave handbells to the Taytay, Rizal United Methodist Church in the Philippines.  As a result of the donation, Leo and Fran decided to organize a church bell choir which came to be known as the “Bells of the Covenant” in Helena.

Since 1982, Leo was a member of the Butte Mile Hi Lions Club and then, Helena Lions Club.  In 2012, he was a recipient if the Presidential Certificate of Appreciation during the annual district 37 convention (Montana and Canada) in “recognition of distinguished achievements in fulfilling the mission of Lions Clubs International”.  In 2017, the Helena Lions Club awarded Leo the “Melvin Jones Fellow Award for dedicated humanitarian services to Lions Clubs International Foundation.”

Leo is survived by his loving wife, Flor, two daughters, Cristina and Monica and their spouses (Ed Caplis and Steve McCurdy), three grandchildren, Tara and Ben Caplis and Maggie McCurdy, two brothers, Rene and Noli, two sisters, Mencie Estacio and Lucy del Rosario.  Leo will be sadly missed by his cousins, nieces, nephews, relatives and countless friends in the Philippines and abroad.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Irineo and Consuelo, two sisters, Betty and Deling, and brother Banny.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to Butte Symphony Association, PO Box 725, Butte, MT 59703, Covenant United Methodist Church, 2330 E. Broadway St. Helena, MT 59601 and Helena Lions Club Foundation PO Box 1077 Helena, MT 59624-1077.

Graveside services will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 21st at Resurrection Cemetery.  The family is planning a Celebration of Leo’s Life next year at a time to be determined.

Juan S. P. Hidalgo Jr. (1936-2020)

It’s been a month since my Papa passed away. Thank you for your condolences and kind words. My family would like to share with you something we wrote about my Papa. We hope it will inspire you or at the least put a smile on your faces. Here it goes:
Last October 23rd we lost our dear Juan S. P. Hidalgo Jr. – Gayyem (friend) to his wife Namnama, Papa to his three daughters, Lolo to his six grandchildren, Johnny and Manong Johnny to many. Active for most of his 84 years, his age finally caught up with him. While we terribly miss him and feel that his brilliant light passed away too quickly, we cannot feel sad for long if we remember how he lived. Our Papa is one happy person and he spread his happiness around. It may be because he became who he wanted to be – a highly-accomplished writer, a beloved writing mentor, a family man, a painter, and a treasure hunter.
Born in 1936 to an entrepreneur and an English teacher, his early life was very comfortable. He spent his happy childhood in Rosales, Pangasinan – swimming in the Agno River, joining his grandfather down the farm, and after the war, frequenting the cinemas. Back home, he gathered his elders and cousins in the family yard and excitedly shared with them the films he just watched. At 10 years old, his family saw in him an excellent storyteller. And storytelling he did his whole life.
He spent his high school years in Manila, frequently moving houses to follow where his mother taught. At 15 years old, he entered the University of the Philippines in Diliman, first as a pre-med student, much to his protest, and later on as an English major. He joined the UP Vanguard, thinking of becoming a soldier like his Peralta relatives. While at the university, he studied the writings of British, European and American writers. He finished writing his first novel, written in English.
A series of unfortunate events in his family life, that left them from extremely rich to dirt poor, made him promise to himself to be the kindest person to his future wife, children and to others. Penniless and to make ends meet, he made money as a film extra in many films of LVN Pictures and other studios. He was very often in film sets and with his movie star looks, film students started interviewing him too. But becoming a famous actor was not his dream, for he just wanted to be a writer and a painter.
For about five years he worked as a warehouseman for the national power plant in Montalban. In the peace of the wilderness, where his neighbors were the nomadic Dumagats, he continued writing and started submitting his Iloco writings to Bannawag. After two published stories to his name, he was hired as a proofreader for the magazine. In magazine publishing he found his place, later on becoming a Literary Editor, Circulation Manager and Managing Editor. He wrote prolifically, for which he received recognition as an outstanding writer in Iloco. At Bannawag, he discovered his love for mentoring new writers. He coached them, even demanded that they find their own voice. Papa was during his whole life committed to GUMIL, an organization of Ilocano writers he founded in 1968. Up until when he was almost 80 and could hardly read anymore, for he suffered from an incurable eye condition, he was a writing mentor in the yearly Ilocano writers workshop. He always looked forward to inspiring new and struggling writers.
His happiest times included his years as part of the UP Campus Sunday Painting Group in the late 1970s. He went around UP Campus with his good friends Alejandrino G. Hufana and Zeus A. Salazar. Many painters joined them. It was quite a sight to see them with paintbrushes and sketch pads, painting along the UP Lagoon and various places around the campus.
Papa lived a very creative life. He never got materially rich – he never found any Yamashita treasure – yet his life was culturally rich. It was made even richer by his sense of curiosity, openness and deep spirituality. For him there is something interesting in everyone. He listened without prejudgments. If he cannot talk to people, he was just as happy to observe them from afar.
He was able to do much because he kept to simple values. Integrity being one. If you sacrifice your integrity – stole from someone or accepted a bribe – no matter how rich or powerful you become, you are still a nobody. Family is most important. Whatever recognition you receive, at the end of the day it is still your family that counts most. Kindness, openness, respect and curiosity about others are what drove him. These made life worthy for him and, hopefully, for the ones who were lucky enough to have known him.

Source: Bituen Hidalgo FB page