My father Tacing  as he is called  or Attorney Tiongco as introduced,  89, died Sunday, Mar 15, 2020. He would have been 90 on July 5. He passed away  at the Grace General Hospital in San Jose DelMonte City, Bulacan , Philippines following a long illness. But due to COVID-19 lockdown, funeral services could not be made. 

He joins his wife of 60 years, Elena Ibasco Tiongco (Mama Ellen) in Heaven who passed away 16 months earlier. He is survived by his sons, Clarencio Darrow Tiongco,  Cardozo Emmanuel Tiongco and daughter Carolina Clemente. 

Born and raised  Tiaong, Quezon, the son of Jose Tiongco (Yap Sun Uy) and  Francesca (Kikay) Mercado Tiongco. Along with his wife and children, went to the US for a better future and succeeding. They resided back to the Philippines (Novaliches, Quezon City) in their twilight years close to friends and relatives with occasional trips to the U.S.

He attended the University of the Philippines graduating with a B.S.  in Law and passing the Philippine  Bar Exam. He married his wife after she graduated from the University of Santo Thomas in Chemistry. In his early  Attorney practice he would double duty as part time Law Professor at Far Eastern University (FEU) while his wife  Ellen  worked at Reynolds Aluminum.  In 1960s he joined the Philippine Foreign Service and assigned in Hong Kong and Los Angeles consulates as Diplomatic Legal Attache. There, he would later learn and of his then unknown older brother in China who was Vice Chairman of China Communist Party. His contact of him helped in the China Open Door policy and in his brother’s 1989 historic return visit to his native Philippines as one of Chinas’s great heroes and and Filipino hero.

After leaving his diplomatic career in Los Angeles, he pursued private law practice and business ventures in the US. He and his wife travelled, experiencing sites , cultures and seeing old friends and relatives. But in the end the Philippines was home. 

Rest In Peace, Dad and Mama Ellen.