Thursday, September 16, 2010

Jaime Villanueva, 1945 – 2010


According to his friend Jojo de Jesus, Jaime Villanueva’s hobby is playing golf. He also used to indulge in sabong derbies to the extent that he had his own stable of fighting cocks. Part of the good life for Jaime was also enjoyment of patis and bagoong with his food. This may have been Jaime’s undoing since it ultimately affected his kidneys. He was on dialysis for 7.5 years until his death on September 10.

After a one year stint in UP, Jaime eventually took up and finished his law degree in Siliman University. While in the University, Jaime met and married Elsa Melocoton from Davao who was also studying in the University. Jaime and Elsa have three boys and twin girls (Paul, Francis, Jaime, Mimi and Gigi). At the wake where his children and grandchildren were in force, Jaime had truly a very close knit family.











When Jaime was growing up in La Salle, he lived in Singalong Manila like many other La Salle guys (Richard Tilman, Boy Tungpalan, Nilo Villanueva, Melo Prats and others who were not Batch63). The Villanueva Singalong family house was retained and so Jaime’s family continues to live there. Jaime’s parents were in the transportation business (like their cousins – the Saulogs of Cavite). They used to own the San Antonio Bus Company and they also ran a fleet of taxis. The family recalls that their taxi company was the first to use Mercedes Benz taxis in the country. For a brief while Jaime was involved in the family business. Jaime however found his calling as a career official for the Bureau of Internal Revenue. When he retired from the service, Jaime was Revenue District Officer of the Bureau.

Batch63 came to the Trinity Memorial Chapel yesterday to condole with the family and pay their last respects to a fallen classmate. Taking the cue from Bert Saenz’s group text advise, the Batch63 guys who grouped together at the wake on Wednesday night were Bert Saenz, Douglas Marcaida, Steve Hontiveros, Bambi Goco, Boy Tungpalan (Jaime’s best friend), Richard Tilman (Jaime’s balae), Boy Charles, Quito Moras, Ed Oleta, Tony Estonina, Lito Quiogue and Oni Mayo.