Cicero Gutierrez Bulawin

CICERO GUTIERREZ BULAWIN was born in August 18, 1929 in the small town of Jiminez, Misamis Occidental, Philippines. He is the eldest of 7 children to Leonardo Cajote Bulawin and Rufina Gutierrez Bulawin. His father Leonardo was a school teacher while his mother Rufina is just a homemaker. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II, his father served with the guerrilla movement leaving the young Cicero to tend to his siblings while hiding in the mountains away from the Japanese.

When the war was over Cicero was sent to Dumaguete City to pursue his college education at Silliman University. He was a proud student of the Tiempos - Dr. Edilberto Tiempo and Dr. Edith Tiempo - both are well known writers from Silliman University. There he finished his degree in Bachelor of Science in Education majoring in English. After graduation Cicero went back to Pagadian City and worked as a high school teacher at the Pagadian Junior College.

In 1952, he was introduced by family friends to Salud Doronilla Depakakibo, a beautiful young nurse from Dumangas, Iloilo City. After a short courtship, he proposed, and they were married on December 20, 1952. The couple later had 9 children and settled in Ozamiz City where Cicero worked as a clerk for the Development Bank of the Philippines ( DBP )while Salud worked as a rural nurse for the local City Health office. In his spare time, Cicero also worked as a part-time correspondent to the local newspaper and as a news contributor for the Depth News Of Asia which is a prestigious publication of the Asia Foundation. Some of his writings were now being used as a reference in some studies.

While working in Ozamiz City, Cicero studies at night classes and finished his law degree at the Misamis University. He later became a lawyer after passing the Philippine Bar Examinations in 1971 and he holds the title as the " college of law savior " because with him passing the national bar examination, he prevented the college from losing their accreditation due to its failure to produce new lawyers in the last successive 5 years. He was paraded around the city with the school bands and students celebrating his success.

After successfully becoming a lawyer, Cicero continues to work for the Development Bank of the Philippines ( DBP ) and he was promoted to the legal counsel of the bank. To make ends meet, Cicero also taught commercial and business law at the Immaculate Conception College and had a radio program at night sponsored by the Catholic broadcasting network and DXDD.

Cicero climbed his career ladder working in various assignments in Visayas and Mindanao until he finally took the position as a branch attorney for the Development Bank of the Philippines ( DBP ) in Pagadian City. There he was also accepted as a freemason at the Dr. Jose Hofilena Sr. Memorial Lodge No. 153 F&AM and later became a 32 degree mason of the Scottish Rite.

Since Pagadian City is 4 hours away from Ozamiz City where his family lives, Cicero labored in commuting back home on weekends to spend time with his family. His past time includes playing tennis, photography, and taking his children to places and walking them along the beach. He was also serving as an elder to his church - the United Church of Christ in the Philippines ( UCCP ) and he never failed to bring his family to church on Sundays. His family and friends are very fond of him because Cicero never misses sending birthday cards and Christmas greeting cards.

In 1986, Cicero retired from his job and was back again with his family in Ozamiz City. A year later Cicero and his wife Salud migrated to the US to join their eldest daughter Rosemarie. And while in the US, Cicero worked in odd jobs so that he can support his remaining children in the Philippines. After a few years later the rest of his children followed and they were all reunited once more as a family.

His wife Salud suffered from a rare type of cancer and passed away in March 20, 2001. It took a hard blow on him and he grieved for a long time visiting Salud's grave everyday, playing a harmonica and offering flowers to her. Two years after his wife died, Cicero was diagnosed with prostate cancer and has been receiving radiation therapy for a few months.

With God's grace he survived his prostate cancer for 12 years until he was diagnosed again for acute leukemia. Cicero fought hard to battle the leukemia with prayers and chemo therapy until his last breath.

Cicero was an active member and an elder of the First Philippine Baptist Church until his death on February 18, 2014. It was a great loss to his family and friends and he will surely be missed.