Antonio Abad Tormis Street, Cebu City

It is the street starting from P. Del Rosario Extension (now Alcantara Street) passing the vicinity of Aznar Coliseum towards the T. B. Pavilion.

The Cebu City Council on the 5th Anniversary of the death of the honoree who was shot to death on July 3, 1961 named a street in his honor. The ordinance (No. 570) was sponsored by Councilor Eulogio E. Borres (who later became Mayor). The ordinance was approved by Mayor Carlos J. Cuizon on Aug. 5, 1966.

Antonio Abad Tormis, a columnist/editor of the “Republic News” was shot thrice by an assassin (armed with a .38 cal. revolver) while he was about to get into his car, after coming from Esquire Barber Shop at Borromeo Street (a marker was installed at the site where he was shot by then Mayor Carlos Cuizon, it was reinstalled by Mayor Mike Rama in 2010).

The assassins and the mastermind were all convicted by Court of First Instance Judge Amador Gomez, the accused appealed their case before the Supreme Court. The conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court En Banc on Nov. 29, 1969. His murder was solved by PC Captain Banzon and was personally supervised by the PC Chief at that time, Isagani V. Campo, who happens to be the 1st Visayan PC General.

The mastermind was the city treasurer who was the subject of the column of Antonio, this was from the issues of the Republic News from Sept. 13, 1960 to July 1, 1961 (or two days before he was murdered). The contents of the columns were allegations of overpricing of office supplies and kickbacks.

Tormis was not just a crusader for a clean government using the newspaper as his weapon, he was also a brilliant lawyer. On June 29, 1954 the Supreme Court En Banc decided a case in favor of a member of the secret service of the City Police Force named Ahmed Alcamel Abella who was terminated by Mayor Jose V. Rodriguez. The Supreme Court ordered the City Mayor to reinstate the client of Antonio Abad Tormis back into the City Police Force.

Another case handled by Antonio Abad Tormis was the case of Roque Senarillos the Chief of Police of Sibonga, Cebu who was suspended and dismissed by Epifanio Hermosisima, the Mayor of Sibonga. Tormis filed a petition before the Court of First Instance of Cebu, Judge M. Mejia granted his petition. The Mayor filed an appeal before the Supreme Court. The High Tribunal affirmed the decision of the Court of First Instance issuing a Writ of Mandamus for the reinstatement of the client of Tormis. The case was decided by the Supreme Court En Ban on Dec. 14, 1956.