‘EVERY second of every day, a tsunami of mortal loss, crashes blindly onto the beach of human anguish, driven by howls of unimaginable pain.’
If hardship reveals character, then the life of Ramiro Mercado y Gomez of Mexico town in Pampanga will unfold how the attendant difficult circumstances can be reversed by being resolute. Ram was my friend and cumpare. We are exactly opposite in many ways. He was reclusive, and I am outgoing. In the early years I can hardly down one bottle of beer, but on a good day he can finish with his other friend, the late Realtor RC Dizon a Johnny Walker black. He was quiet, and I always did a lot of storytelling. He has a unique personality. But we got along very well.
I met him first time at Cervantes Press in Tarlac City when we were both printing our news weeklies. Mine was Pampanga Examiner and his was Star Reporter. We both struggled in getting advertising support for our paper but we managed to survive. He was correspondent for the defunct Philippines Herald and I was with Daily Star and I moved later to Daily Express. And later we bought an airtime at the DZYA and anchored a public affairs program together with the late lawyer Ruben Feliciano. No one evening will pass without us spending few hours on watering holes like Armando’s Pizza, Jack Concepcion’s corner store at Nepo Mart. Later will be joined by our drinking friends like Atty. Ner Biag and Romy Yusi. Those were happy moments for Ram when he was with friends and drinks overflowing.
He was so unique that he named his daughter Pepsi and his sons Rum and Wine. He was a certified family man. His wife Cumareng Aurora aka Reng was a teacher in Holy Angel University and migrated later to the United States when all the four kids were already grown up and occasionally go home to check on family. Ram always cooked breakfast for the kids, and in some occasion did marketing at Pampanga public market. After the household chores he will drive his 1964 Toyota and made the usual orbiting for some news for his writings. And in the evening, he will be romancing the bottle, either it is gin, beer, scotch or what can make him inebriated.
It was 1979 when he helped me revived the Pampanga Press Club which was inactive for a good number of years. I became the president and he succeeded me. We headquartered at Shanghai Restaurant in Balibago, Angeles City and recruited more members. We raided for wider membership the government’s Office of Media Affairs to be part of the press club. Those were the golden age of media men.
Ram’s involvement in politics started when he was the public relations man for then President Diosdado Macapagal’s Press Secretary Leo Parungao who made a run for congress in the province second district. Then in 1980 he handled the campaign of Tarzan Lazatin in a mayoral contest. In both occasions he didn’t succeed in making his candidates win. Not until in 1988 when again he was recruited by Tony Abad Santos in a tight three cornered mayoral contest against the two political giants of that time, former Governors and Mayors Rafael Lazatin and Francisco Nepomuceno. Pareng Ram scored a win this time.
Before he got sick we used to meet for breakfast every Thursday at Perfect Loaf with some friends and this time he was not so active except for writing a column in SunStar. He hardly attends media functions. The breakfast meeting was halted when I ran for councilor in 2013. And in the succeeding years, all what I know he was undergoing dialysis three times a week. He wouldn’t answer calls from friends and kin. He won’t be disturbed. He was taken care of by his daughter Jeng. But despite the physical pain he endured he kept writing until his article wasn’t published for two Mondays. Then I sensed he will be saying his goodbyes. And he did. Farewell Pareng Ram. Heaven is waiting.