EVERY ending is always a beginning of something new and this proves true for Davao Regional State Prosecutor Antonio Arellano, who is set to retire from public service next month.
For him, "work never stops."
Working for the Department of Justice for 23 years now, Arellano started as a State Prosecutor II back in 1991 and was appointed as the Regional State Prosecutor (RSP) of Northern Mindanao in 1998, RSP of Central Visayas in 2004, and the RSP of Davao Region from 2007 to present.
"I owed a lot to the Jesuits because they gave me the chance to be educated because they gave me the scholarship and the work opportunity so that I can teach and go to college," he said.
He finished his Bachelor of Laws from AdDU and passed the bar exam in 1976 and taught in the university's law school in 1978.
Prior to working for the government, Arellano had already advocated human rights, helped unprivileged people in handling human rights cases.
While in service, he had established the management information system in every region wherein he became the RSP that helped in improving efficiency of people under his office.
"I am very happy that although I am already in Region 11 (Dava), the top four performers in as far as the national prosecution service is concerned although the number one is Region 1 (Ilocos) the second third and fourth will always come from Region 11 (Davao), Region 7 (Central Visayas) and Region 10 (Northern Mindanao) and among four top tens the three region are the ones I came from where I was able to institute this systems somehow helped a lot in performance of our prosecutors," he said.
He is also known by his staff to be someone who loves to initiate actions to keep their office organized and clean.
"You cannot be not productive if your working condition also is not conducive for creativity, efficiency, it is not conducive for health and you must be happy in your working area so that if you're happy and you're contented you'll feel relaxed then you can be more productive and you will enjoy going to the office every day," he said.
Among his awards, Arellano was recognized for his contribution to the growth and development of Davao City wherein he became a Datu Bago Awardee in 2011.
Blessed with a loving wife, three children and three granddaughters, Arellano is looking forward to "more interesting years and challenging years" to come ahead.
"I always believe that in whatever you do, it is not enough that you just do it because you know how to do it, most important is because you love how to do it," he said.
And with the ending of his career in the government, Arellano is going back to his first love, the academe.
"I will go on with public interest work and a teacher, for me being a teacher, an economist and a lawyer all involves public work," Arellano said.
"There is no stopping when it comes to work, there will be no stopping when it comes to public interest work, I will continue doing that for as long as I can," he added.
Arellano was born on July 11, 1950 in Iloilo City. He finished his elementary education at Tuburan Central Elementary School in 1962 and high school education at Iloilo City Colleges in 1966.
Orphaned at an early age and being the youngest in the family, his college education was funded by a Jesuit foundation because his siblings could not afford to.
He finished Bachelor of Arts Major in Economics from Ateneo de Cagayan (Xavier University) in 1969 and finished Master of Arts in Economics at Notre Dame University in 1971.
After his education, Arellano found his way to his first love, which is teaching in 1971, wherein he became a full-time professor in economics at Xavier University and then transferred on the same year to Ateneo de Davao University again through the help of the Jesuits.