ONE of Cebu’s leading business icons, Roberto Eduardo “Bobby” M. Aboitiz, will be laid to rest today following a Requiem Mass at three o’clock in the afternoon at the Sacred Heart Church in D. Jakosalem Street, Cebu City.
The urn that contains the remains of Aboitiz will be open for public viewing in the same church from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to information released on Sunday by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (Rafi), which Aboitiz headed.
Aboitiz passed away in a hospital in Metro Manila on Thursday. He was 68.
Cebu City North District Rep. Raul del Mar yesterday paid tribute to the late chairman of the board of Aboitiz Equity Ventures and vice chairman of the board of Aboitiz and Co., recalling that in 2007, Aboitiz was famously quoted as saying, “Our work goes beyond writing a check.”
While heading various key positions in the Aboitiz conglomerate, Aboitiz was also deeply involved in working to help improve the community, Del Mar said in a statement Sunday.
“He believed the problems of ‘poverty, declining state of education and corruption’ challenge ‘not only the government but also the community,’” said Del Mar.
As chairman of the board and president of Rafi, Aboitiz translated that “belief into programs and projects for Cebu’s growth and development” and “actively helped in uniting local government leaders, civil society and the rest of the private sector to rally behind Mega Cebu 2050, which strives for a ‘wholesome, advanced, vibrant, equitable and sustainable Cebu’ (or, easier to recall, Waves),” added Del Mar.
He said it was also Aboitiz who asked Cebuano members of the House of Representatives to file an updated version of the then Metro, now the Mega Cebu Development Authority bill. The bill has already been approved on the committee level.
“Bobby died before legislation could start helping realize the vision that he shared and vigorously promoted. May his memory inspire the rest of us to follow the example he set for every true believer in Cebu and its role and destiny in our nation’s progress,” Del Mar said.
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