Malolos City—What started as a simple rivalry between two Rotarian Malolenyo-buddies turned deadly after their quest for the governorship of Rotary District 3770 reportedly resulted in a fatal heart attack of one of the protagonists over the weekend.
The two candidates for Rotary Club governor, both past presidents of their respective clubs in the capital city of Malolos, are well-known in their field of profession.
Edwin Cariaso, of the Rotary Club of Malolos, is a long-time former manager of the Meralco Central Office in the province, while Paul Camiña, Rotary Club of Metropolitan Malolos, is a doctor by profession and an ortho-surgeon at the Bulacan Medical Center. He reportedly collapsed, suffered a massive heart attack and dropped dead during an interview session.
Camiña had earlier won as governor thru the process of Ballot-By Mail (BBM). However, the current District governor nullified the election of Camiña asserting that it violated the club by-laws that was supposed to be done thru a District Nominating Committees (DNC).
Based on the DNC, the winner was supposed to be voted upon by a 20-man District Election Committee last Saturday at a venue in Sta. Maria, Bulacan after a one-on-one interview with the two candidates.
Camiña was first to be interviewed and the interview was reportedly so intense that it took more than three hours before Cariaso was called for his turn to face the panel. It was at this juncture when he faced the interviewers that Cariaso collapsed due to a heart attack.
Camiña and three other doctor-Rotarians at the venue immediately attended to revive Cariaso but to no avail.
Past RC District 3370 governor Engr. Celso C. Cruz, who was one of the three panelists in 2021 together with past-district governors Felix Domigpe and Eric Wycoco, sent a cryptic note of condolence: “Let the death of pp Edwin serves as a message to exorcise the dreaded selection of district governor nominees using the District Nominating Committee, and instead use the democratic ballot by mail.”
In the end, Cariaso lived by the tenets and guiding motto of all Rotarians: ‘Service Above Self’. His life is now above and beyond any living Rotarian. He died in his quest for an elusive title as Rotary Governor for the year 2024-2025, a year coinciding with the 75th Diamond anniversary of the oldest club in Bulacan, the Rotary Club of Malolos.
