Family, employees and close friends of murdered Cebu lawyer, Goering George Paderanga, await his simple funeral at the Angelicum Garden of Angels cemetery in Mandaue City, just before sundown on Friday – about 20 hours after a security guard shot him to death. His son, lawyer Gerik Paderanga, who was also shot by the guard remains in critical condition for a wound in his nape. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO).
Slain Cebuano lawyer, Goering George Paderanga, was laid to rest before 6 p.m. on Friday, about 20 hours after his death.
The quick funeral arrangements caught many of his friends and family by surprise; however, Cebu Daily News learned that this was in accordance with his long personal wish that in the event of his death, he be buried without frills and with no embalming, within 24 hours before sundown.
From the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Nivel Hills Barangay Lahug, Cebu City, his body was brought to the Angelicum Garden of Angels cemetery in Canduman, Mandaue City at around 3 in the afternoon where close family, friends, law associates and his employees waited to bury him before sundown.
The mood was somber and quiet, as dozens of Goering’s relatives and friends paid their last respects to the man they all fondly remember as very simple and mild-mannered.
And just like Goering, his funeral was very simple with no memorial service before the casket was lowered into the ground.
There were no songs, no floral offerings.
Just the muffled sound of mourners underneath the pained sobbing of a woman – his wife RTC Branch 16 Judge Sylva Aguirre-Paderanga, who had just lost a good man.
A friend of the family told Cebu Daily News that they were still in shock over the death of Goering.
“I could not imagine him (Goering) inside that coffin,” said the family friend who requested anonymity.
She said Goering’s wife, Sylva, who was attending a seminar in Manila when Goering and their son, Gerik were shot at past 8 p.m. on Thursday, was devastated upon learning of her husband’s death and the serious injury of her son.
The lady judge returned to Cebu early morning yesterday and proceeded to the hospital where his son remains confined.
The family begged off from granting any media interviews.
Goering, 62, was gunned down by security guard Jonathan Sanchez at his law firm in Barangay Sta. Cruz, Cebu City shortly after the gunman shot his eldest son, Gerik, 37, at the driveway of the building, while the younger Paderanga was about to park his vehicle.
As of last night, Gerik was still in critical condition at the Velez General Hospital for a bullet wound in his nape.
Speaking before the crowd of mourners who gathered for the funeral, Goering’s youngest son, Goering Jr., thanked family and friends for their support and asked for continued prayers for his brother, Gerik.
Right before sundown, Goering’s friends and family quietly formed a line to view the lawyer’s remains one last time.
“God’s will be done,” Goering, Jr. said.
Legal Community
The shooting of two Cebu lawyers, Goering and his son, Gerik, shocked Cebu’s legal community.
“We, the members of the Board of Directors of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), Cebu City Chapter strongly condemn the dastardly act committed against two members of the chapter,” read the statement sent to CDN by IBP Cebu City chapter President Hidelito Pascual.
The lawyers’ organization said Goering and Gerik were two of the “most well-admired practicing lawyers in Cebu.”
Goering was a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Law.
Instead of joining the big law offices in Manila, he opted to try his luck in Cebu and started from scratch by opening a small office along General Maxilom Ave.
“The way Atty. Paderanga’s law practice has grown through the years is a living testimony to his ability as a lawyer,” the IBP said.
Whatever reason for the heinous crime against the two Paderangas, the group said, is not enough reason for the commission of the crime.