Former Danao City Mayor Ramon Durano Jr. ,CDN file photo
FORMER Danao City Mayor Ramon “Boy” Durano Jr. has succumbed cancer last Saturday, November 24. He was 84.
His death was confirmed yesterday by Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale who is Durano’s niece. Magpale said that the former mayor had been hospitalized for about two months and died at around 11 p.m. on Saturday.
Although she could not specify as to the type of cancer that Durano was afflicted, Magpale believed the complication started when her uncle’s kidney faltered.
“It started in his kidney but doctors said the cancer has already spread to other organs. He was in the hospital for about two months tingali,” Magpale told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview.
Magpale said she only received the news on Sunday morning.
She described Boy as a “quiet” man.
“He is quiet. Dili kaayo siya tig istorya,” she said.
The lady vice governor was Durano’s vice mayor from 1971 to 1978.
“He was one of the longest serving mayors in Danao City,” she said.
One of Durano’s accomplishments, Magpale said, was when the late mayor passed a resolution establishing the city’s Karansa Festival in honor of their patron saint Santo Thomas de Villanueva.
“Being part of the provincial tourism committee, I appreciated that,” she said.
The family of the former mayor decided to have his body cremated the next day, Sunday, Magpale said.
The ashes was then brought to the family’s private cemetery at the Ramon Durano Foundation in Guinsay, Danao City. His burial was witnessed by his family, close relatives and friends.
Yesterday, the flag at the Danao City Hall was flown in half-mast as a symbol of mourning for the passing of a beloved city official.