In the 2013 election, reelectionist Talisay City Mayor Eddie Gullas was upset by JVR De los Reyes. The margin was slim — 736 votes — and Eddiegul’s lawyers and friends wanted him to protest the results.
I was still in the TV5 newsroom after our Aksyon Bisaya newscast when he called to ask what I thought. In reply, I asked him where his heart lay. “I’m not inclined to heed their advice,” he said. “It will not be good for Talisay.” Good, I replied. Let’s prepare for the rematch instead.
That same night, he issued a statement conceding to De los Reyes. Three years later, he clobbered JVR by more than 35,000 votes in their return bout.
I was team manager of the University of the Visayas Green Lancers for almost 10 years. On my first year in 1981 the team went to Manila to play in the national intercollegiate tournament, representing Central Visayas.
The accommodations were provided by the host region who billeted us in a small hotel in Malate that has obviously seen better days. Let’s just say that we lived or tried to live a truly spartan life throughout the tournament.
Except on the third night when Eddiegul provided a reprieve from our cramped existence and took us out to dinner at a five-star hotel. At that time he was the governor of Cebu and a member of the Executive Committee of the first President Marcos.
Because it was martial law, security was very tight in all the hotels. The Sheraton was no exception. At the door we were all frisked, including Eddiegul. The search was thorough and Eddiegul had to open his clutch bag to prove that he was not carrying any explosives or any item that posed a danger to the hotel guests before he was allowed inside.
Someone from our group must have told the guard who Eddiegul was because soon he was rushing to where we were waiting for the other team members to arrive. He profusely apologized to Eddiegul.
Don’t apologize, Eddiegul said gently. You are doing your job and I feel safer because you are. The guard’s face brightened and, again profusely, thanked Eddiegul before leaving to join his colleague at the hotel door.
Like any other public figure, Eddiegul was fair game to opinion writers and broadcasters. Some of his critics went overboard, their words hurting and the allegations untrue and unfair. Except perhaps in one or two instances, he just kept silent.
How do you cope, I once asked him after he declined my suggestion to hit back at his tormentors. I just shut myself off from outside noise, he replied.
They buried Sir Eddie last Tuesday but the memory of his humility will live on. It defined him.