A.R. Villanueva Street, Cebu City (Part II)
The street is named in honor of Arsenio Ruiz Villanueva. The honoree holds the title as the first vice mayor of Cebu City. Before the creation of the Office of the Vice Mayor (the vice mayor is the City Council's presiding officer), the title of the head of the city council was then called as the president of the municipal board of Cebu City.
Villanueva took his oath as the first vice mayor of Cebu City on July 16, 1948. The Cebu City Charter (Commonwealth Act No. 58) was amended by Republic Act 244 approved on July 12, 1948 created the position of vice mayor of Cebu City.
The street named in his honor is the road which leads from F. Ramos Street going towards and ending at the junction of R.R. Landon Street which was formerly known as the Pelaez Extension.
The street naming was made by virtue of City Ordinance No. 1055 enacted on March 10, 1980 by the City Council. It was approved on April 7, 1980 by Dr. Florentino S. Solon, the mayor at that time.
Mayor Florentino Sanico Solon was born on September17, 1931. Solon was appointed by President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos as mayor of Cebu City few years after the declaration of Martial Law. He was appointed mayor from October 16, 1978 up to 1980. The vice mayor of Solon was Engr. Eulogio Enriquez Borres.
Dr. Solon was elected mayor of Cebu City during the first local election after the declaration of Martial Law by President Marcos. The election was held on January 30, 1980. His vice mayor, Atty. Ronald R. Duterte, succeeded Solon as mayor of Cebu City in 1983 when the latter was appointed director of the Nutrition Center of the Philippines.
The son of Mayor Solon by the name of Juan Antonio Aseniero Solon also followed his footsteps of serving the nation through public health. Dr. Juan Solon is the country's present Nutrition Center of the Philippines executive director.
Atty. Ronald R. Duterte, the mayor, successor of Dr. Solon was born on January 15, 1934. He finished his Bachelor of Laws at the University of Southern Philippines in 1955 and took the bar the same year. Duterte became a lawyer on March 2, 1956.
The father of Ronald Duterte just like him was also a lawyer (formally admitted to the Bar on December 31, 1935) and holds the title as the first elected vice mayor of Cebu City (Villanueva is the first appointed vice mayor of Cebu City). The father of Ronald by the name of Ramon also became mayor of Cebu City, just like Ronald, when Cebu City Mayor Sergio "Serging" Chiong Veloso Osmena Jr. resigned in 1957 as mayor of Cebu City to run as congressman succeeded Osmena as Cebu City mayor.
Atty. Ronald R. Duterte holds the title as the fourth elected vice mayor of Cebu City. Ronald's father, Mayor Ramon Duterte was born on December 23, 1901 in Danao City, Cebu. Ramon Duterte was mayor of Cebu City from September 13, 1957 to December 31, 1959. Ronald's term as mayor was cut in 1986 when EDSA People Power erupted and the country's elected local officials, from governors, mayors and their councils were replaced by Officer in Charge more known as OIC. Duterte was replaced by John Henry Osmena.
Arsenio R. Villanueva was formally admitted to the Philippine Bar on December 5, 1931. Arsenio was the son of Wenceslao Villanueva of Molo, Iloilo, while his mother Casimera Ruiz was from Cebu. His parents met in Cebu and it was her that they built a family.
Vice Mayor Villanueva married Consolacion Reynes Rosal and they had one child by the name of Ester. A year later, Arsenio became a widower and he remarried. His second wife, Asuncion Ongpin was a Rural Health Nurse.
Vice Mayor Villanueva shared his knowledge of the law by being a Professor of the College of Law of the University of San Carlos. He taught from 1937 to 1977.
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