The physician post-war mayors of Cebu City

Cebu City is blessed to have physicians as post-war Cebu City mayors. Their profession helped in the recovery of Cebu City from war damage specifically on health.

The war caused numerous outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, and skin and respiratory diseases such as the dreaded tuberculosis. Don Sergio Suico Osmeña, the successor president of Manuel Quezon who died on August 1, 1944, faced the challenge of the resurrection of Cebu City.

Don Sergio Osmeña, a wise president, made sure that Cebu City will stand back on its feet being the Queen City of the South. He then appointed Dr. Leandro Tojong.

Doctor/Mayor Tojong was elected Representative of the then 5th Congressional District of Cebu from 1946 to 1949. He then ran and was elected Representative of the then 2nd Congressional District before the war; he served as city councilor of Cebu in 1936.

Dr. Tojong, established his own hospital (named after him). He was born on March 13, 1905 in the town of Ginatilan, Cebu. The Cebu City Council on motion of Councilor Franklin Seno in 1985 enacted City Ordinance No. 1194 naming a street in honor of the eminent doctor and public servant.

Dr. Tojong was succeeded by a fellow physician, Nicolas Escario of Bantayan, Cebu (the first president of the Cebu Institute of Technology, now Cebu Institute of Technology University), Nicolas G. Escario, appointed acting mayor of the Cebu City on January 29, 1946.

Nicolas Gandiongco Escario was born on December 6, 1898 in the town of Bantayan, Cebu, to Gregorio Escario and Victoria Gandiongco. Dr. Escario donated P10,000 to Cebu City to pay for the salaries of the employees. He systematically addressed the health problems and was unfazed by the challenges as this was his field of expertise.

The fellow appointees of Dr. Escario in the city government who helped him in its recovery were Honorato Hermosisima, Florencio S. Urot, Numeriano G., Estenzo, and Luciano Bacayo, appointed acting members, of the Municipal Board of the City of Cebu, January 29, 1946.

Incidentally, the lawyer-historian and brains of the Cebu City Charter, Gervasio Lavilles, was appointed, ad interim, Register of Deeds of the Province of Cebu and the City of Cebu on January 31, 1946.