Atty. Wilfrido Bueno, Mr. public servant, dies
Local News • 18:20 PM Sun Sep 13, 2015
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
Former Cotabato City Councilor Wilfrido Bueno (Photo courtesy of Coabato City Councilor Bruce Matabalao)
COTABATO CITY – The pioneer member of the Cotabato
City's 1st Sangguniang Panglungsod, Atty. Wilfrido Bueno, has passed
away Saturday.
He was 85 years old.
Bueno, more known as Willie” and Mr. public servant among his peers,
returned to the Lord’s Kingdom at 2:30 p.m. Saturday while at the Intensive
Care Unit (ICU) of the Notre Dame Hospital due to lung complications.
In behalf of the entireBUENOFAMILY. Our Mr.Public Servant former regional director of COMMELEC and former CouncilorAtty. Wilfrido'Willie' Homboy-Bueno, passed away yesterday at exactly 2:30pm (Sept 12,2015) at Notre Dame Hospital, Bueno's daughter Ara posted on her FB account early Sunday. His wake will be on his house at Ortouste-Jasmine Street, Cotabato City, beside Divine Mercy Chapel (Zone 7), she added. sand//scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/12004771_10154280286533146_5935393990861951088_n.jpg?oh=7f986f697e2f3a4ede02063466e468efandampoe=56628321 (Photo from his daughterAra Bueno's FB)Councilor Bruce Matabalao, once a colleague of Bueno
in the previous Sanguniang Panglungsod, said prior to his death, the former councillor still wanted to serve Cotabato City and had in fact been preparing for next year’s
election.
Until his death, Bueno regularly attends the daily masses,
rain or shine, at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish Church with his wife, Florencia
Calvo Bueno.
Matabalao described Bueno as a feisty lawyer, no
non-sense legislator and the always on-the-go senior citizen.”
Born on March 25, 1930, Bueno was among the first
set of city councilors having been elected in 1960 local elections after the
then Municipality of Cotabato became a chartered city on June 20, 1959 by
virtue of Republic Act No. 2364.
Matabalao said Bueno was the last
man standing” among the first elected council members.
The last time we spoke on your birthday (March 25m
2015), we laughed when you proudly declared that you are the last man standing among
the first City Councilors of Cotabato City,” Matabalao said on his FB wall.
May the Almighty reward all your good deeds and
grant you eternal repose. Thank you for everything! Rest in peace Manong
Willie,” he said.
In between serving the public and practicing law,Bueno wrote columns in several weekly newspapers in the city.Bueno finished his elementary in 1941 at the Cotabato
City Elementary School and secondary at Notre Dame of Cotabato.
He earned his Bachelor of Laws in 1956 at Notre Dame
of Cotabato (now Notre Dame University).
He first served as council member from 1960 to
1968 then practiced his profession until 1996 where he was named regional
director of the Commission on Elections in Central Mindanao.
In 1998, he ran and was re-elected in the council in
1998 until 2001. Again, he served in the
council from 2004 to 2013.
His organizations include Rotary Club of Cotabato,
Prex 5 (Rosary Heights parish), Couples for Christ, Nonoy Lu Tennis Club and Integrated
Bar of the Philippines.