Sanchez: In memory of Bro Alan

I WOULD like to honor the late Alan Brillantes, otherwise known as Bro Alan among Catholic charismatics of The Light of Jesus Family, the organization that hosts The Feast Bacolod.

Bro Alan was the senior Feast Builder. At age 56, he suffered a massive heart attack on May 30. He and his family were also diagnosed as coronavirus-positive and were quarantined at a Covid facility near the University of St La Salle (USLS) where he graduated summa cum laude and where Alan taught accounting.

Bro Alan was a Catholic member of the underground church in Saudi Arabia while working for Aramco as an accountant. He was one of the first to visit me at the Bacolod Adventist Medical Center (BAMC) when I myself was confined there on January 13, 2020.

I appreciate that Bro Alan insisted that we include a section on global warming along the lines of Pope Francis's encyclical on the environment Laudato Si.

We featured The World on Fire that featured reprints on climate change. As the editor-in-chief of The Feast Bacolod Bulletin and an environmentalist, I have no issues with that.

Bro Alan was my referee when it was time to renew my accreditation as a court-annexed mediator. As CAMs, we are considered as pillars of Negrense society.

But because of Covid-19, the Philippine Mediation Center is closed, As Dovey Arsenio texted me, "Gud am for now we are not allowed to conduct video conferences."

I find it alarming that Covid-19 is getting too close for comfort. Two Feasters in fact were downed with Covid-19. Another Feaster texted me that her uncle, a barangay captain, was confined at the intensive care unit of a local hospital. Thank God he recovered.

Hasta la vista, Hermano Alan. Until we meet again in the afterlife, brother.