CEBU CITY—He may have been away from the City Hall for an extended period of time due to a lingering illness but Mayor Edgardo Labella always had the city’s welfare in mind.

Jaypee, one of Labella’s three children, said that even if his father was already sick, he wanted to make sure that everything was in order in the city.

“He was sad about the city. There were times when he was really worried about what was going to happen but we were telling him the city is in good hands with Acting Mayor Michael Rama,” Jaypee said in a press briefing at the City Hall on Friday, Nov. 19.

Labella, 70, died around 4 a.m. on Friday at the Perpetual Succour Hospital where he has been confined for 23 days.

Septic shock secondary to pneumonia was the cause of his death, Jaypee said.

“Mayor Labella, who served the city untiringly at the height of the pandemic until conditions improved, lost the battle he waged. He had initially been managing his illness well when the lockdowns compromised his situation,” Jaypee said.

The mayor’s body lies in state at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Nivell Hills, Barangay Lahug.

Jaypee said the family plans to hold a wake for six days before the mayor is laid to rest.

Public viewing may be allowed but subject to strict observance of health protocols, Jaypee said.

“We are very sad. My father and I were really close. This is so hard for me. Hoping things will get better because now I am really, really sad,” he said.

Emotions ran high after the press briefing as Jaypee hugged and shared in the grief of City Hall employees.

The mayor was diagnosed with prostate cancer 12 years ago.

In January 2021, Labella was hospitalized due to an ear infection. It was then that the mayor was found to have sepsis or blood infection.

Sympathies from local and national leaders poured in for the Labella family.

“His death is truly a loss to the Cebuanos and all the people who have had the privilege of knowing him. He has touched the lives of many, served his constituents, and uplifted them from poverty, alongside President Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” said Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar.

Michael Lloyd Dino, Secretary of the Office of the Presidential for the Visayas, said Cebu “lost an honorable man who only deserves our gratitude for the legacies that he left during his lifetime.”

“Mayor Ed, we will continue the work that you have started in order to realize our shared vision. Though we will miss you terribly, we pray that you are now in peace in God’s loving arms,” Dino said.

“Today, I have lost a good friend and partner and the City of Cebu has lost a great public servant,” Vice Mayor Michael Rama said in a Facebook post.

With Labella’s passing, Rama, who is currently on leave, will take over as the city’s new mayor while City Councilor Dondon Hontiveros will assume as Vice Mayor.