Hilario P. Davide, Sr.

Hilario Davide, Sr. was the father of retired Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr.

Early life

Born Hilario Panerio Davide, Sr. was born in Argao, Cebu on January 14, 1905.

Career

Hilario Sr. was a teacher at the Talaga Elementary School in Argao in the 1920s when he met his future wife Josefa, also a teacher in the same school. Noy Undo was later appointed as district school supervisor. One of his achievements during his stint was the construction of primary schools in the municipality. He retired in 1969 as school superintendent in Lapu-Lapu City. Shortly after, he founded the Colawin Education Foundation which he headed until 1990.

Personal life

Family

1. Eldest son Jose was an engineer and a lawyer who served as municipal councilor in Argao.
2. Jorge was a retired soil scientist and was connected with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
3. Eldest daughter Paz is a retired public school teacher.
4. Oscar is a doctor of medicine.
5. Romulo is a doctor of plant pathology in the University of the Philippines in Los Baños
6. Lina is the director of the international training office at a university in Illinois.
7. Hilario Jr., became chief justice and is now the Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations.

The union of Hilario Davide Sr. and the former Josefa Gelbolingo was blessed with 7 children, all of whom became professionals. The third son Oscar served as a surgeon at the Don Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu and the first daughter, Ma. Paz, followed her parents’ footsteps by serving as a schoolteacher. Romulo became a scientist with the University of the Philippines-Los Baños and Lina, the second daughter, earned a doctorate in education and continues to serve as director in a training unit of a university in the United States. Jose, a lawyer-engineer, and Jorge, a doctor in soil, died in 2004 and 2002, respectively. Hilario Jr. graduated with a degree in laws, served in various capacities in government before retiring as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Death

Davide, known by ordinary folks as ‘Noy Undo’, was 101 years old when he died June 17, 2006 on the eve of Father’s Day in his home in Sitio Waling Waling, Barangay Capitol Site.