Obituary

BAYANI S. AQUINO passed away peacefully on August 2, 2020. He was 80 years old.

Bayani was born in Cavite on May 25, 1940, to Emiliano Aquino and Consolacion Aquino (nee Sayas). The Aquino family was one of the thousands of migrant families from Luzon who sought better fortunes in Davao in the 1950s. Bayani was educated in Davao City High School and Adamson University in Manila; he then returned to Davao to work for a pharmaceutical firm.

He met his future wife Luzminda Robillo while visiting his older brother Oscar’s house in Juna Subdivision; the Robillo house was across the road from Oscar’s, and he often saw her over the low fence that was typical of Davao houses at the time.

After a courtship that included winning the hard-to-earn favor of the Robillo patriarch Isaac (“Tatay”), Bayani and Luzminda married in 1968, a happy union that lasted 52 years and produced three sons and a daughter.

Tatay soon put Bayani to work for the family business, sending him to Indonesia to supervise a logging operation, then putting him in charge of the family’s veneer plant in Davao. Bayani later engaged in business on his own, running a farm in Gumalang that produced pomelo, oranges, rambutan, papaya and durian – an enterprise he happily ran until a stroke incapacitated him in 2001.

Bayani was an active member of prominent Davao charitable organizations, and attained significant leadership positions – he was a Vice President of the Rotary Club of East Davao; and became a Master of Podomo Lodge No. 294, Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines (Freemasons).

A passionate traveler, Bayani would often travel with his Freemason and Rotary friends across the world, attending Rotary and Masonic get-togethers in the U.S. and Spain. Traveling with his wife, Bayani loved visiting countries like Australia and New Zealand – not even a stroke could stop Bayani from traveling to New Zealand three times!

Bayani will be forever remembered by his loving wife Luzminda; his children Eric, Dennis Francis (Maria Felicitas), Michael Henry (Maria Minnette), and Celeste Anne (Ivan) Enriquez; his grandchildren Ysabel Beatriz, Sabina, Mikaela, Miranda, Sebastian, and Adriana; and his brothers Hernani and Oscar. He was predeceased by his brothers Danilo and Hector.

Bayani will also be forever remembered by his numerous nieces, nephews and extended family and dear friends.