Former Fil-Am mayor is now county chief public defender, volunteer command pilot

DALY CITY, Calif. – Former Daly City Mayor Ray Buenaventura was sworn in recently as chief public defender of Lake County in the heart of California’s Wine Country, becoming one of the highest paid County employees and the highest-ranking Filipino Americans in county government.

He is also this city’s longest serving City Council member and has been voted mayor four times in 12 years by his peers, all of whom he mentored.

But while the Quezon City-born leader has broken political barriers many times, his unsung work outside the political realm is what elicits the most approval.

Buenaventura is a volunteer command pilot with Angel Flight West (AFW), a nonprofit founded in 2013 to transport ailing people for free across hundreds of air miles for medical assistance. He does it, he says, “because it’s good for my soul.”

Former Daly City Mayor Ray Buenaventura is sworn in as Lake County’s chief public defender. Photo from Cherie M. Querol Moreno

He takes off from Palo Alto Airport in Santa Clara County to pick up patients from rural towns in Humboldt, Shasta, Tulare, Kern and Sacramento Counties where “they need help the most because they don’t have major airports” to distant treatment centers.

Each mission is less an adventure than a major investment and commitment. By Buenaventura’s estimate, a typical mission covers four hours round trip and costs around $1,000 for aircraft rental and fuel.

He welcomes the financial responsibility for giving as much to himself as it does the patients in each flight that tests his mental acuity and deepens his compassion and empathy.

Captain Ray Buenaventura on the wing of another mission to save a life. Photo from Cherie M. Querol Moreno

“I believe in the need to have a well-balanced life, full of diverse interests,” Buenaventura explained his motivation to Inquirer.net.  “You cannot limit yourself to one purpose in life.”

Like his elected and appointed posts, the flights bring him face to face with the fragility of life, reminding him to make each day count as his experience with a young woman he flew to and from Stanford Medical Center.

“I got to know her because she’d been my patient on several missions. She had her whole life ahead of her had it not been for her failing lungs,” he said. “At times she would get better, but most of the time she’d get worse. I was heartbroken when she passed away. It did not seem fair that such a young promising life could be taken away so soon.”

Many missions conclude favorably, owing to the timeliness and accessibility of the medical response otherwise unattainable were it not for the AFW team breaking transportation challenges.

Teen fascination

What started as the then-UC Berkeley Legal Studies student’s fascination with aircraft sent him fueling planes to eventually earning his pilot’s license while attending class and working for a flight school.

First elected in 2011, four-time mayor Ray Buenaventura (fourth from left) mentored and supported all current City Council members of Daly City. Photo from Cherie M. Querol Moreno

He completed the FAA requisite 40 hours of flight time that entailed 20 hours of flight training with an instructor before going on solo flights totaling 10 hours plus 3 hours of instrument time.

He passed the FAA written exam followed by the practical in-flight test to be licensed to fly single-engine planes on land. Afterward he obtained his sea plane rating and certification to land on water.

Gaining his AFW wings was another learning process that begins as an “Earth Angel” or the volunteer responsible for picking up and driving the patients on the ground to and from their treatment centers.

“I would make sure they are comfortable in the drive, carry their bags and help them check in to their hotels or medical appointments,” Buenaventura said. “I would usually provide them with a care package, made up of snacks, water and fruit.”

The next stage is that of “Mission Assistant” whose task is to take care of patients on the airplane, ensuring their security and overall well-being while in flight.

The command pilot is responsible for the airplane safety to and from the destination.

His wife Kathy and son Max support Buenaventura’s love of flying, he said. Ultimately he sees himself becoming a flight instructor with Max, a gifted pianist studying music in Boston, among his students.

Time is well spent on Buenaventura’s watch. He is a captain with the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the US Air Force. Until September he had a private practice as an attorney and certified criminal law specialist.

Chief public defender

Somehow he says he’s “still in court almost every day” some 120 miles from his Westlake District home in Daly City to “monitor lawyers and make sure they are providing effective representation.”

As chief public defender since October, he “develops programs designed to help people in their criminal case that focuses on early representation, trial preparation and post-conviction relief.”

“I believe in a holistic approach to criminal defense representation, one that is multi-faceted and seeks to help clients in a more meaningful and sustained manner…and in the need to do public service and make government work for the people,” he elaborated on his job created only in April and filled after what the County Board of Supervisors said “followed a rigorous review of indigent legal defense in Lake County.”

In a statement issued by the County Administrative Office, Board Chair Jessica Pyska said, “Our board is truly excited Mr. Buenaventura has chosen to invest his considerable experience and energies toward supporting a stronger and more just future for Lake County…We are committed to supporting his important work.”

Buenaventura calls the job the “crowning glory” of his profession, though it was not his childhood ambition. He had aspired to be a priest, having attended La Salle Greenhills in Manila.

He became an altar server, a role that drew his interest in “how the priest would conduct prayers and the homily” and explains his comfort with public speaking. In school he enjoyed Government and Humanities, learning about “how governments function and the way government works for the people,” and thus was captivated by “the teachings of the great philosophers Plato, Machiavelli and Rousseau.”

Law became his natural station.

Purposeful mentor

Buenaventura has served less years than neighboring town officials but is already acknowledged as northern San Mateo County’s “elder statesman” for consistently topping each race for re-election, noteworthy considering Daly City had the largest population in the County until the City of San Mateo garnered a couple hundred more residents in Census 2020.

Angel Flight West flies patients of all backgrounds to and from treatment centers. Photo from Cherie M. Querol Moreno

And yet when asked about his foremost achievements, he would start with having raised his son “to become the man he is today – respectful, kind, talented” with whom he has a “great father/son relationship.”

As a Filipino American community leader, he has spearheaded recognition of Fil-Ams with the designation of the Alice Pena Bulos Memorial Highway along Skyline Boulevard in Daly City and the Erlinda T. Galeon Memorial Park also in Daly City, the outcome of skillful collaboration with state and local officials.

He has mentored all four members of the current City Council of Daly City and appointed more Fil-Ams to City commissions than any elected official, assuaging Ray Satorre, a community leader who used to chide previous city councils for non-recognition of Filipinos in the town with the largest concentration of Filipinos on the US mainland.

Buenaventura does not want for confidence. The only prize he pursued but has not attained is a judgeship, from which past unsuccessful campaign he says he has learned lessons, such as the prohibitive cost of running for a county post and the expansiveness of San Mateo County.

“I would still like to be a judge someday,” he told Inquirer.net. “Given my 30 years of experience in the courtroom and my work as a public servant, I think I have some life experiences that will make for a good judge. I haven’t given up on that idea and would be grateful for the opportunity.”

His term ends in 2026, sparking speculation about his local political future. The savvy politician will only entertain the question with a “no comment,” his next steps harking back to his credo to be open to more than a solitary purpose.