Condolences on the Passing of Don Rodis, Brother of FBANC Founding Member, Rodel Rodis

FBANC extends its deepest condolences to Rodel Rodis and the Rodis family. One of our organization’s founding members, Rodel has long embodied the values of service, resilience, and community that define FBANC.

Don Rodis, Rodel’s brother, tragically passed away earlier this year after a powerful rip current swept him into the Sea of Cortez while he was on vacation in Mexico. The months that followed became a difficult journey. The challenges have included the lack of a death certificate from Mexican authorities — Don’s remains were not recovered, and Mexican legal authorities would not issue a death certificate in this situation until seven years have passed.

California law allows a person’s survivors to establish the fact of death for a California resident who passes away outside the United States when their body cannot be found.  After learning Mexico would not provide a death certificate, Rodel successfully filed a petition to establish the fact of Don’s death in SF Superior Court. This important development will enable Don’s survivors to resolve his affairs. This legal path — one that many families may not know exists — provides a way for Rodel’s family to honor their loved one while navigating the complex intersection of grief, uncertainty, and the law. For more information, please see the article included below.

As we reflect on this loss, we also reflect on the strength of family — a value deeply rooted in the Filipino community and at the heart of FBANC’s founding. Rodel helped build this organization with the belief that we rise by lifting each other, and today, we stand with him and his family. May they find comfort in the embrace of community, in the love that binds families across distance and circumstance, and in the memory of a life that will continue to be cherished.

Our thoughts, prayers, and solidarity are with Rodel, Don, and their family during this difficult time.

San Francisco judge approves petition for issuance of death certificate of Don Rodis

By Cesar Antonio Nucum Jr.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The case of the missing beloved San Francisco Filipino resident may finally see much coveted closure after a San Francisco Superior Court  judge approved the widow's petition for an issuance of a death certificate of the victim.

Hermilo Elepano ‘Don’ Rodis was on a leisurely stroll on June 14, 2025 on the shore of the Hilton Resort in Cabo San José, Baja California Sur, Mexico when the heart wrenching tragedy happened after a powerful rip current swept Don into the depths of the Sea of Cortez.

MAR DE FONDO

The feared current, locally known as mar de fondo, an occurrence when up to three-meter-high waves suddenly come in from deep water usually without the usual buildup of surf-like phenomenon, catches even many cautious strollers by surprise. Numerous hotel guests and staff tried valiantly to rescue Don but were unsuccessful.

Los Cabos Municipal Civil Protection Directorate, firefighters with aquatic rescue teams, the Mexican Navy (Marina), and ZOFEMAT have also since been exerting rescue efforts by boat and jet ski and with Civil Protection helicopters providing aerial survey but their efforts proved futile.

Since that fateful day, Don’s body has never been found and his family has been engaged in a sorrowful search for closure and peace until the ruling of San Francisco Judge Ross Moody.

A CALIFORNIA SOLUTION TO A MEXICAN PROBLEM

The petition was resorted to after Don’s older brother Rodel, a member of the California bar for 45 years, learned of a California law that allows for a petition to be filed in California to establish the fact of death of a California resident who died outside the US whose body cannot be found. The law incorporated in California Health and Safely Code Sec. 103450 permits a “beneficially interested person” to file a verified petition with the superior court in the county where the death occurred or where the person was domiciled prior to his death in a case when a registered death certificate cannot be obtained.

Rodel then filed a Petition to Establish Fact, Time and Place of Death in the Matter of Hermilo Elepano Rodis in the San Fran cisco Superior Court on October 31, 2025 (Case No. PES-25-308940) and the matter was set for a hearing on November 10, 2025 in Department 204 before Judge Ross Moody. On that day, Atty. Rodis appeared in court before Judge Moody with Don’s widow, Jocelyn Quintos Rodis, and the matter was called by the judge who expressed his personal condolences to Don’s widow and granted the petition.

MEXICAN LAW ON THE DEATH OF A MISSING PERSON

Initially, the Rodis family sought to seek a death certificate from Mexico but current Mexican law states that a missing person’s death certificate can only be issued after seven years. For Don’s family, particularly for his widow Jocelyn, the petition stated “this waiting period prolongs the agony they endure daily without closure in truly completing the grieving process including the inability to settle his affairs (pension, insurance, bank accounts, etc.). This bureaucratic standstill traps them in a state of continuous uncertainty and heartache.”

To get around the seven-year Mexican law mandated waiting period, Mrs. Rodis wrote to Mexican President Claudia Schienbaum requesting her to waive the seven-year rule and Issue a Death Certificate for her husband so it would provide Don’s family with desperately needed closure but President Scheinbaum has not responded. Mexican lawyers also have advised the Ro dis family that a waiver of this seven-year rule cannot likely be granted.

The Rodis family had also written US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with the petition signed by more than 1,000 people from all over the US, asking Sec. Rubio to request the Mexican government to waive the seven-year waiting rule and issue a death certificate for Don Rodis. But the requests for a waiver failed to elicit a response. Fortunately, California provided a solution.

THE WIDOW’S LAMENT

After the petition for the issuance of death certificate was granted for Don by the California Superior Court, widow Jocelyn expressed a "bittersweet" feeling “now that the legal process is complete.” 

“It’s still hard to accept that Don is gone. A part of me wants to believe that Don will come back home somehow so I can hear his voice and laughter once again. But I know he is now with the Lord,” lamented Jocelyn.

Atty. Rodel commented “the granting of a death certificate for Don by the San Francisco Superior Court on November 10, 2025 gives us our family much needed closure and allows us to complete our mourning.”

“The unexpected death of my brother was devastating to our family and to all our friends. But the bizarre manner in which he died by a rogue wave which swept him out to sea where he remains missing to this day increased our pain and suffering. Yes, we all lose our loved ones eventually but it’s usually not literally,” Rodel imparted.