Iloilo City’s first female OIC mayor dies at 94

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – The first woman ever to hold the position of officer-in-charge  (OIC) mayor of Iloilo City died at the age of 94, her family confirmed.

Former Iloilo City OIC Rosa Olondriz Caram died on Saturday, May 11, her granddaughter announced in a post on Facebook.

“It is with joy and sadness that we announce that Rosa Olondriz Caram has joined our Creator on May 11, 2019,” posted the late mayor’s granddaughter Francine Beatrix Caram on social media, on behalf of the Caram clan.

“The family requests for your prayers and would like to respectfully ask for suffrages and prayers for the repose of her soul. May we also request that the family be allowed to grieve in private,” she added.

In a Facebook post after meeting with Caram in his office last year, Iloilo City Mayor Joe Espinosa III described Caram as “the first ever and only female Mayor in the history of Iloilo City.”

Following the February 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution that ousted the Marcos regime, then-president Corazon Aquino appointed Caram – popularly among her constituents as “Tita” – in April 1986.  

Caram served as Iloilo City mayor OIC until November 1987,  when she was replaced by Antonio Hechanova. She shied away from the political limelight since.

She was the widow of the late assemblyman Fermin “Nene” Caram, an opposition lawmaker in the now defunct Batasang Pambansa. – Rappler.com