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Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Ex-Barili mayor Pace laid to rest
THE first woman mayor of Cebu who served Barili town for almost 30 years was laid to rest in the southern town’s Catholic Cemetery yesterday.
Librada “Badang” Pace, 94, last Dec. 18 in a private hospital in Cebu City.
Baby Pace, her youngest daughter, said Librada started working as mayor in 1959 and retired in 1998. If all her terms as mayor are totaled, her public service lasted for about 30 years.
Baby said her mother was considered the mother of the barangays in Barili.
Barili used to have 21 barangays but when then president Ferdinand Marcos issued a presidential decree giving assistance to all barangays, she split the barangays. This brought the number of barangays in the southern town to 42.
Nearby school
It was also during her term that she put up the Barili Academy so that her constituents need not go to far to study high school.
The parents pay her with corn grits because they do not have money for their children’s tuition.
The Barili Academy is now the Sta. Ana Academy as she turned it over to the Cebu Archdiocese.
Former governor Pablo Garcia, who attended the burial, described Librada as an excellent leader who gave personalized and motherly attention to Barili and her people.
Garcia said with his help, Librada was able to get P15-million assistance from Malacańang to build a new municipal hall after it was gutted by fire in the early 90s.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, the first woman governor of Cebu who hails from Barili, also attended the burial.
Peaceful
Baby said her mother died peacefully. Last Dec. 17, she was with her in their house in Guadalupe, Cebu City and she sensed that her mother was getting weaker.
She brought her to Cebu Doctors’ Hospital but they failed to get an accommodation in the intensive care unit as it was full.
Librada had low blood pressure and her lungs were diagnosed to have water that was why she had difficulty breathing.
She just stayed in a private room and in the morning of Dec. 18, she died.
“She died peacefully. I think, she was very prepared,” Baby said. (MBG)
(December 28, 2004 issue)
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