‘Kap Imok’ saved my son: constituents offer tribute

WHEN Marlyn (not her real name) looks at her youngest son, she remembers the late Cebu City Barangay Captain Felicisimo “Imok” Rupinta.

The 50-year-old told SunStar Cebu that the village chief was instrumental in helping her then 17-year-old son find his way back home and start life anew.

Some 22 years ago, Mark (real name withheld) was wanted by authorities after the boy got involved in a gang fight in the late 90s.

This caused his food vendor-mother to spend several sleepless nights, afraid that her child would end up behind bars, or worse, end up dead in a pool of his blood.

“Unom tuod akong anak, pero ang kamanghuran gyud ang pinakabadlungon. Di mulabay ang adlaw nga di ko maghilak sa una (I may have six kids, but the youngest is the most problematic one. Not a day went by without me crying over him),” Marlyn said.

However, all these took a positive turn one summer evening in 1995. Although they never knew each other on a personal level, Imok offered to help Mark get intervention.

Imok, who was at that time, a barangay councilor asked the grieving mother to take Mark with her and meet the official at his own home.

It was at this time that both mother and son broke down.

“My son had always been good, but he was bullied by his schoolmates who were also part of a separate gang. The beatings and taunting eventually got the best of him, that’s why he also ended up joining the rival gang. He wanted to take revenge,” Marlyn said in Cebuano.

Imok offered to send Mark to a Youth for Christ center to help him start anew and bring him closer to his family and God.

When he turned 20, Mark was sent by Imok to a technical vocational school in Manila where the boy acquired electrician and welding courses.

Mark is now happily married and living in Ermita with his wife and three children. He has also been working as a barangay tanod in the area for almost three years now.

“Kap Imok was the most generous and humble person I’ve ever met. When I look at my son, I feel blessed remembering that someone who I am not even friends with helped my family grow stronger several years ago,” Marlyn said.

The same generosity and humility was experienced by Cirila Dominguez, who works as Ermita’s gender and development focal person.

The Dominguezess of Ermita, though, were initially against Imok and used to be staunch supporters of his political opponent.

Despite this, Cirila remembered how Imok, although technically in an unwelcome territory, went to her mother’s wake to offer his condolences.

He also donated P500 to the bereaved family, which was of great value in 1998.

“That was the moment that changed our family’s view of the man. We had bashed him when he first ran as barangay captain, and yet he never loathed us. That’s when we decided we need this kindhearted person to lead us,” Cirila said in Cebuano.

Marlyn and Cirila associates all the developments in their barangay to Imok’s dedication and hard work within his two decade political career. Cirila said the village chief paved the way to the construction of their barangay hall building and the establishment of an extension of the Cebu City Central School in the area, among others.

Marlyn said Imok had been paying for the intervention programs of around 30 drug surrenderers in their area for almost a year now.

They were enrolled in a rehabilitation center in Liloan town, northern Cebu, and the barangay captain paid for each patient’s fee at P1,500 from his own pocket.

He also celebrated his birthdays with the elderly, children and barangay workers of Ermita since he assumed his post as barangay captain. Imok was suppose to turn 63 on Dec. 16.

“It really hurts. We suspected that something was wrong that Thursday because he was quiet, and he was never like that. We assumed that he was just tired. We did not just lose a great leader, we lost a father,” Cirila said. (RTF)

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