Public school teachers who produced leaders of Cordova
Spouses Maximo Menguito Sitoy and Ramona Amores-Baguio both graduated at Cebu's oldest government school, the Cebu Normal School now called the Cebu Normal University. The couple married on May 8, 1935 in Cordova, Cebu, with Maximo at the age of 32, while Ramona was 24.
Maximo who retired as a public school principal was of humble beginnings, his father, Apolonio was a skilled carpenter who never used nails in making bancas. Ramona's father was a fisherman who used bamboo corrals to catch fish.
The Sitoy couple armed with the virtues of discipline, perseverance and frugality was able to accomplish the somehow impossible by sending their nine children to college. The only source of income was the noble profession of being public school teachers.
The nine children, christened in alphabetical order:
Adelino (born on February 6), the eldest became a successful lawyer and politician, followed by Beatriz (born on February 12), a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education graduate, then Celedonio (born on August 21) who became a Doctor of Medicine, Denisa (born on January 21) a Registered Nurse, then Elmo (September 9), became a Chemical Engineer, Franco (August 1), who earned two degrees, Geodetic and Civil Engineer, Gaspar (September 1), a Mechanical Engineer, Hillardo (August 24) an Architect and Imelda (January 14) a Registered Nurse.
The Sitoy's original surname was of Molinas, its ascendant named Anecito had problems with the Spaniards and in order to evade further persecution changed the family name from Molinas to Sitoy.
Adelino, the eldest of the Sitoy siblings, is not only a successful trial lawyer (he became a lawyer on January 21, 1961) and politician, he is a man of letters and is the brains behind the Cebuano-Visayan Dictionary. Adelino, served Cebu as an Assistant Provincial Fiscal and Assemblyman, in the regular Batasang Pambansa which had its opening session on July 23, 1984. He served as president of the Lubas sa Dagang Bisaya or LUDABI.
Adelino presently leads the brave people of Cordova (used to be spelled as Cordoba) as its mayor. The town was once the center of the ire of the Spaniards when during the start of the Cebuano uprising against Spain in April of 1898, Spanish soldiers found out that 200 of its residents were in possession of KKK Cedulas. Heroically, Juan Nunez, the secretary of the town council owned up the distribution to spare everyone of the punishment of the Spanish authorities. Juan Nunez was executed after he pleaded that the rest be allowed to be free.
Adelino's younger brother, Celedonio, who became a Doctor of Medicine ran for mayor of Cordova in 1967 to challenge a relative, the incumbent mayor Sergio A. Baguio. In 1975, Dr. Celedonio, a member of the Sitoy clan regained being the head of the town, once headed by an ascendant Juan Sitoy (served from 1945 to 1947).
Doctor Celedonio when EDSA or the People Power Revolt in 1986 erupted was replaced by Deogracias Jumao-as who served Cebu City as its market superintendent in the 1960's. During the local elections in 1988, the first post EDSA election, Dr. Celedonio was again chosen by the people Cordova as their rightful leader.
Doctor Celedonio's nephew, the son of lawyer Ade, Arleigh Jay C. Sitoy, fulfilled his destiny of the legacy of the Sitoy's clan of service to the people of Cordova. He ran and was elected mayor in 1998 and served until 2007. Mayor Arleigh then ran for board member of the sixth district of the province of Cebu in 2007, a position which he still holds today. The daughter of lawyer Ade, by the name of Mary Thereser Sitoy-Cho serves as the vice mayor of Cordova, Cebu.
The spouses Maximo and Ramona did not only produce successful professionals and leaders of the town of Cordova, its eldest child continue to serve the great Cebuano people and the Visayan speaking people from Visayas and Mindanao by promoting and preserving the Cebuano Language. Adelino fondly called by friends and foes as "Noy Ade" is the renaissance man of the Visayas, the rebirth of the Maverick Senator, Don Vicente Yap Sotto.
Mayor Ade is "The Defender of the Cebuano Journalism, Language, and Literature."
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