‘I want to give back to the family.”
In an interview with PeopleAsia in October 2017, Paolo Tantoco, the 44 year-old COO of Pacific Links Golf Development Inc. and chief security and procurement officer of Sta. Elena Golf and Country Estate, who passed away in Los Angeles, told the magazine “I want to give back to the family by adding value to the business.”
Friends, employees and business associates of the Tantocos, the family behind Rustan Commercial Corp. (RCC), are still in shock at the sudden passing of Paolo Tantoco, whose death was first made public by older brother Donnie Tantoco in a Facebook post yesterday morning, Sunday, March 9. Paolo was 44.
In a video shared by one of Paolo’s cousins, Fr. Tito Caluag, in a homily in a Mass he celebrated for the grieving family, said: “Always, the pain is always commensurate to the amount of love you have shared with Paowee. And as everyone would agree Paowee is such a lovable person… walang masamang tinapay. Lahat kaibigan, lahat magaan [There was no stale bread with him. Everyone was a friend, everything was light.]”
Donnie, president of RCC, quoting from a statement issued by their parents Rico and Nena Tantoco, earlier wrote on Facebook: “It is with great sorrow that we share the sudden passing of our son Paolo ‘Paowee’ Tantoco. We are devastated by our loss and kindly request for your prayers for Paowee and our family. We will share more details as we finalize arrangements for bringing him home to the Philippines.”
In a succeeding Facebook post, Donnie also announced the schedule of novena masses for his younger brother.
Paolo, who was also assistant VP of Rustan Commercial Corp., passed away in Los Angeles. According to an online report by Hollywood LA News, “Juan Paolo Tantoco, 44, died at a hotel.” He was formally pronounced dead on Saturday, March 8, 12:05 p.m., Los Angeles time. “Manner and cause of death,” the report continued, “have not yet been determined.”
“He learned from the best”
In the same interview with Denise Roco de Leon for PeopleAsia in October 2017, Paolo revealed that he was mentored by older brother Donnie, who told him that a good leader is “someone who can discover the goodness and greatness in a person and get that person to contribute out of that goodness and greatness.”
Then an administration manager for the Rustan Commercial Corp. (RCC), Paolo also recalled how he would visit his Lolo Benny and Lola Glecy as a young kid in the ’80s in Morocco, where the elder Tantocos lived back then. There he and his cousins would play with cardboard boxes that their grandparents bought for them, to hone their imagination.
Paolo, the sixth child in a brood of seven, was one of several grandchildren of the late Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco and Gliceria Rustia Tantoco, founders of Rustan’s. Apart from Donnie, Paolo’s other siblings are Gippy, Robbie, Katrina, Bea and the late Joel. He took up Business Administration at Bentley College in Boston.
He was married to Dina Arroyo-Tantoco, deputy social secretary of President Marcos Jr. and daughter of the late congressman Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo. She is also the niece of former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo. The couple have three children—Alana, Bella and Zach.
Until his death, Paolo was also chief operating officer of Pacific Links Golf Development, Inc. and chief security and procurement officer of Sta. Elena Golf and Country Estate. — By Jose Paolo dela Cruz and Alex Y. Vergara
