Former mayor of Negros Occidental town dies of cancer

Negros Occidental map

BACOLOD CITY — A former mayor of Ilog town in Negros Occidental passed away after a six-year battle with cancer at the Adventist Medical Center-Bacolod on Sunday, January 1.

Benigno “Boy” Gequillana, 72, had a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which attacks the body’s germ-fighting immune system, according to his son and Ilog Councilor Benigno “BG” Gequillana Jr.

Boy, his son said, was brought to the hospital on December 31 after he was hit with pneumonia.

Boy was mayor of Ilog from 1988 to 1998.

The former mayor was a pioneer of the football community of Ilog, a former director of the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative, and an assistant treasurer of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines-Negros Occidental Council.

His son said the wake will be at the Acropolis Gardens in Bacolod City until January 8, when Boy’s remains will be cremated.

The urn containing his ashes will then be brought to Dancalan, Ilog, for a memorial service and will remain there for about three to four nights, after which it will be brought back to the Acropolis Gardens.

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