I can still vividly recall the expression former Vice Governor Enric Rama wore on his face that morning we met after dawn mass at the Redemptorist Church many Christmas seasons ago.
It was the face of grief and worry. Two of our athlete colleagues in the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) died recently, he told me. “Both in our age bracket.”
“I’ll write your epitaph if I survive you,” I replied, trying to lighten the tone of our exchange. “Do me the same favor.”
Many friends and colleagues of our generation have died since Enric and I had that conversation. Erning Elizondo was the latest to cross the Great Divide, following Tikyo Sanchez and Dodong Montecillo. All were from my basketball-playing days.
Erning was president of the Cebu Professionals Basketball Association (Cepba) before he became a Cebu City councilor. He was one of the three who initiated me into Cepba, the others were Dr. Momoy Llaguno and Col. Lyle Paras, also both deceased. Only a Cepban understands what the initiation entailed.
Tikyo was my partner on and off the court (of law and of basketball). At one time, I had to rush to the Department of Labor after he told me by phone that he was a few deep breaths away from punching the opposing counsel. I almost lost a tooth because of him during a game against Lanao del Norte in an IBP tournament in Dipolog. And we were “principal actors” in a melee with the engineering faculty team of the University of the Visayas in the 80s.
Dodong was one of the four “Montecillo sisters” who terrorized opponents with their rugged play in the 80s. An orthopedic nurse, he immigrated to the US with his family but came home regularly to celebrate milestones. The last time he was here was in July last year to attend our 50th wedding anniversary. We were supposed to meet again in January next year but death intervened.
My Gullas Law School class has also been decimated. There were at least 40 of us who graduated in 1974. When we had our reunion last year, only five showed up. Two of them have since died: Jun Manubag, a couple of months after our reunion, and Nick Palangan, two weeks ago.
Enric and I are, by the grace of God, still standing but we, I particularly, have no illusions. Not after two serious health scares, and certainly not when you’re pushing 74 and the guys you’ve known for a long time have long gone.
I used to be terrified by the thought of dying. I’m still afraid, and I pray I could live long enough to watch all my grandchildren march to their college graduation. But I leave that to God in his Infinite Wisdom.