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Friday, September 10, 2004
Quiet passing for man behind ‘Kasadya’ lyrics
By Jovy S. Taghoy
Sun.Star Correspondent
THE man behind the lyrics of the famous Cebuano Christmas song “Kasadya Ning Takna-a” has passed away.
Lyricist Mariano Arcadio Vestil died at noon last Sept. 6 while lying on a long bamboo chair inside his house in Barangay Punta Princesa, Cebu City. He was 101.
Vestil’s youngest daughter Conchita, 48, said she and older brother Richard discovered their father’s death last Tuesday when Richard tried waking his father up to take his meal.
“Mura ra siya og natug (He looked asleep),” Conchita said.
Vestil’s death certificate said he died of congestive heart failure.
Vestil left behind five children, Hernani, 67, Orlinda, 62, Richard, 59, Elena, 56, and Con-chita, 48.
His wife En-carnacion died nine years ago.
Little was known about Vestil except for his contribution to the late Vicente “Inting” Rubi’s 1933 composition Kasadya. Vestil wrote the lyrics.
Vestil was born on Jan. 12, 1903. He was an athlete in his younger years, even becoming a member of the Sweet 65 Softball Team in Cebu City. He also served as umpire and referee.
Poet too
Vestil spent his free time writing Cebuano poems.
“Gihatagan ko ikaw og mga bulak, Mga bulak sa akong kasingkasing; Mga handumanan mahimong hikalimtan, Apan kining mga bulak way pagkalawos — Hangtud sa kahangturan,” goes a sample of Vestil’s poetry showed to Sun.Star by his children.
Vestil also worked as a clerk of the Cebu City Hall during the time of then mayor Eulogio Borces and retired at the age of 65.
Hernani and his four siblings remembered Vestil as a strict disciplinarian, especially when it came to their studies.
“He always told us to finish our studies because that’s the only treasure he and my mother could give us that could not be stolen by anyone,” Orlinda recalled her father’s advice.
“He also reminded us to always avoid trouble,” Hernani added.
His children said that in his old age, Vestil did not suffer any major ailment. They attributed this to his lack of vice. Vestil didn’t smoke or drink.
Like the late composer Rubi—who didn’t receive royalties for Kasadya until his death in November 1980—Vestil also did not receive a single centavo for the song’s lyrics. The song was even translated into the Tagalog “Ang Pasko ay Sumapit.”
Vestil’s children said they no longer have plans to go to court for the royalties.
They said they no longer have the evidence to present because the manuscript containing the lyrics was among the documents razed by a fire in 1960 in Barangay Kama-gayan, where their parents had stayed.
Vestil was brought to his final rest yesterday afternoon at the Queen City Garden, after mass at the Lourdes Parish in Punta Princesa.
(September 10, 2004 issue)
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