ERUF founder ‘peaceful’ before meeting demise

HOURS before he passed away, Dr. Herminio Cortes was at peace and ready for whatever may happen to him.

“He offered everything to God. He said ‘Thy Will be done’ before he underwent heart surgery two weeks ago,” said Tessie Cortes-Vasquez, a retired nurse and Dr. Cortes’s younger sister.

Dr. Cortes, one of the founders of Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF), died of cardio-respiratory arrest in a private hospital in Cebu City last Thursday morning.

Cortes’s wake will be held in his house in Cortes Compound in SB Cabahug Street, barangay Centro, Mandaue City, adjacent to the Dr. Ignacio Cortes General Hospital.

Vasquez, the second eldest of the Cortes siblings after Dr. Cortes, said she told him that the family “had to surrender everything.”

Cortes, eldest among 13 siblings, would have turned 67 on Dec. 24 this year.

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes was the youngest among the 13 siblings while Mandaue City Councilor Demetrio Cortes Jr., was the third child.

When asked what he wanted to eat as soon as he recovered from surgery, Dr. Cortes told Vasquez that he wanted a meal of “miswa” (angel hair noodles) and “takla” (a type of shrimp).

“I was the only sister present before he underwent surgery together with his friend and our cousin, Mario King,” she said.

Vasquez recounted that Cortes was a big brother to her in their childhood years.

She said Cortes would skip classes to be with her in her kindergarten class.

Vasquez said she visited her brother often but she never had a glimpse of him.

The day before Cortes died, Vasquez stayed more than five hours in the lounge.

“I didn’t want to see him because I would only pity him. He had so many gadgets attached to him,” Vasquez told Cebu Daily News.

Vasquez said Dr. Cortes told his close relatives that he wanted his wake held in his house in Cortes compound. Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos