tagabungtod

He was born July 6, 1953.

He grew up in Mawab but he chose to reside in Nabunturan after he married his tagabungtod college sweetheart, Gilda Dimson. I first met Edgar during the early '70s when he joined DANECO as one of its pioneer employees. Wala pa'y koryente, naa na sya. A good-looking and amiable person, he easily won tagabungtod friends because he always displayed a very affable smile. The kind of person who loved to listen and exchange ideas and jokes with friends. The tennis court was the weekend hangout.

Edgar soon married Gilda, whom he described as his fierce academic rival for the top rank in their class during their college days . According to him, in order to ease the tension that was always brewing between them and to get even because she always excelled, he courted her and they became sweethearts. Both graduated with honors and became certified public accountants in no time. Gilda, who also got employed by DANECO, would later resign and join the municipal government of Nabunturan. She is presently the Municipal Accountant.

Meanwhile, Edgar became the Office Manager of the electric coop where he took the opportunity to finish his Masters in Business Administration. Having served DANECO as a board director, myself, I have seen how competent, hardworking, and even-tempered Edgar was. As soon as the late Atty. Jose Amacio retired as General Manager, it was not unexpected that Edgar would take his place.

At the helm of DANECO, he steered the electric coop to become a model of efficiency in the entire country. For example, in instances of power interruptions or brownouts, he was known to be the kind of manager whom consumers can call directly anytime of the day or night. He himself answers his phone, calls and dispatches his engineers and emergency crew to immediately attend to the problem.

A very bright, funny, and articulate guy who had a great knack for explaining accounting and financial gobbledygooks, Edgar shared his talent, together with Gilda, by teaching at the Assumption College for several years. He was known as a very good teacher and was very popular among students. It was at this time that the school introduced a business course with Accounting as a major. In a few years, ACN started producing its own certified public accountants.

As a resident of Nabunturan he immersed himself in community activities by becoming a member of the board of director of the Nabunturan Integrated Cooperative and the Nabunturan Water District, the latter he served for more than 29 straight years starting from its inception in 1981. He was NWD's chairman at the time of his death. He succeeded the late Dr. Rolando Layug in 1997, also a pioneer director who served as chairman of the board for about 17 years.

DANECO and its consumer-members throughout the provinces of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley lost a very competent general manager. Likewise, his immense contribution to the growth and development of Nabunturan is immeasurable. In my book, he was a true-blue tagabungtod we can always be proud of.

He is survived by his wife, Gilda, two daughters, Anna (now Meneses) and Jan Angelie and a grandson. In the early '90s they lost their second daughter who had a protracted battle with leukemia. On June 19, 2009 he, himself, would succumb to a tumor in his spinal column .