Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Pestaño: Goodbye Gerry By Frank “Boy” Pestaño Chessmoso
GERRY Tomakin passed away July 26 last week. A regular fixture in the chess community in Cebu since after the war, Gerry was one of the founders of the Cebu Executives and Professional Chess Association Inc. (Cepca), which was formed in June of 1990. Apart from myself, the original members were Gerry, Alex Tolentino, Luis Miñoza, Art Ynclino, Danny Pestaño, Nicnic Climaco and Sonny Sollano.
The other members, who have passed on, were radio broadcaster and lawyer Migs Enriquez, Sonny Sollano and the 10th president of the club, Bobot Villaluna.
For those of you who knew Gerry as well as I do, would know that if there is one thing that characterized him more than anything else, it would be his sense of humor. He made conversations an art with his endless supply of jokes. Even when things didn’t quite go his way, you could never tell because he would always look at the brighter side of things. And I know it would be his wish for us not to mourn his passing.
When I heard the sad news that Gerry had passed away a week ago, my first thought was that a friend had just gone out in the world.
I sat in silence for some time, thinking about the times we shared together—the chess games and the bingos at the casino.
When you are in the departure area, as Art Ynclino says, you look back and realize that a real friend is as rare as a grandmaster. Gerry was a real friend to me and to the rest of the Cepca gang.
Gerry was born 88 years ago on April 23, 1919 in Carcar, Cebu .He is survived by his wife, Vicenta and children Gaylord, Shane, Vivian, Geraldine, Garry and Gerry Ross. A tragedy struck the family when their son Glenn was murdered a long time ago. A tragedy, which always brings sadness to Gerry‘s eyes whenever he talks about it.
He was a Philippine scout during the war and he became an American citizen in 1988. Most of his children are now living in the US.
He told me a story that during the war, he was captured by the Japanese near Bataan but he managed to escape from prison. He walked all the way to Pampanga for about a week, where he relied mostly on the generosity of complete strangers, who were probably aware that he was a soldier.
After retiring from Aboitiz Shipping as an accountant, he devoted most of his free time to chess and became president of Cepca from 1993-1994.
He is now probably playing with the likes of Mikhael Tal, Paul Morphy, David Bronstein and the other great players of the past and he must be enjoying every bit of it.
Depth of life is measured by how much we are appreciated. Gerry was just that.
Interment will be this Sunday, Aug. 5, at the Queen City Garden after a 1:00 p.m. mass at the San Roque Parish Church.
CEPCA NEWS. Mike Banebane won the July Monthly tournament last weekend at SM City Cebu. Banebane had 4.5 points after five rounds. Runners up were Nick Cuizon and Mandy Baria, who had four point each. Zaldy Tabanao and Dante Arguelles placed fourth and fifth places, respectively.
Again, we have a good crop of new members. Emmanuel Tagimacruz is a retiree of the Social Security System and operates a chess club along Gorordo Ave. Another member is 35-year-old Fletcher Arevalo, who was a varsity player for Letran College in 1992-1993 and competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Edward Cubio,30, is from Bohol and was a varsity player of Mater Dei College. Esteban “Boy” Astillero, 64, is from Toledo City and is a retiree of the National Power Corporation.
Back in the early 90’s, a young lad, Walton Lacorte, was being trained by Ben Dimaano of Cepca as part of our program “Search for a Master,” along with several others including the former sports editor of Sun.Star, Jobannie Tabada. Lacorte is now a member of Cepca and holds a license in Electronics and Communications Engineering and a master’s degree in Information Technology. He is also the coach of the University of San Carlos varsity chess team, him being a former varsity player himself in college at the University of San Jose-Recoletos.
