If only Tatay is still around today, he would for sure be very flattered by the way of how and why I describe him as “The Greatest Man in the World”. In elevating my father to the level of Dr. Henry Kissinger, I believe that it’s my right to say or write superb descriptions of him for being my father but up to this extent of being “the greatest” seemed to be out of context. Dr. Kissinger may have done and looked great in terms of what he had accomplished in world diplomacy and history but I stand by my elevation of Tatay as we all see that it is only him and he alone who deserved to be ‘the greatest man” in our lives.
Since I’ve learned from childhood what a “father” means to me and to all of us, it was already a “fixed” agenda that the rich story about him was yet to be told and written. That, along with my beloved mother’s who showed and performed her roles to the letter as a mother, I also see her as the “sweetest mother of all”, not because of her perfume sweet fragrance but that she really was very sweet and great as a mother. She was our “psychological healer” when we feel sick that by just sleeping alongside her had always made us well. And all these can’t just be simply said or written for nothing.
But why I pick my father solely for this title of “the greatest man” is a story that only a proud son can write. I know that not all children love or are proud of their parents the way they should, and of parents too of not being proud of their children for reasons they only know. All these are understandable as I learned in life. I believe that our view of Tatay is different from what other children look up to theirs. While we all looked up to our father as a bread winner and a hero, others may not that many even dislike or denounce theirs for not being up to the tasks in their roles as parents. We never experienced this in our family even just once and it’s all because of our father’s well-followed plans of raising us as can be gleamed from his memoirs.
Early in his life, Tatay already showed that he was a “dreamer” of sort. As a kid, he ambitioned of becoming “rich” someday despite that he was born poor. What perhaps motivated Tatay to aim high was his envious mind of people who were born rich. Prior to joining his friends to venture outside of Iloilo, Tatay was already working as a laborer in a sugar cane plantation in his hometown of Dueñas. Despite being just a child laborer as he was then a teenager, he labored in the field or in the loading of sugar canes into train wagons to be brought to the mills. Every time Tatay sees this little boy riding and alighting from a luxury car in the sugar mill compound or in the fields all “dressed in white”; white pants, white shirt, white shoes and socks, he envied so much by what he always saw. Such that this kept him to dream of copying the same outfits too once he has a family and sons of his own someday. That little boy happened to be a son of the haciendero or owner of the plantation and mill. But for him to fulfill such dream of “dressing” his sons all in white too, Tatay knew and believed then that he must first become “rich”, have a car or a sugar plantation of his own. And so, that was how he thought.
No. Tatay was not able to dress me or Toto Efrain all in white just like the way he saw it in his dreams. Instead, Tatay “dressed us up” and accomplished even more than what he dreamed of as Toto and I turned out to be good and worthy sons, reputations he was so proud to the end. Early on, Tatay had also preached us never to have tattoos in any part of our body since he did not like them. In reality, Tatay had his own small tattoo in his right arm which he regretted so much to have it. As we have heard and learned from him, this was tattooed during his early years as a baquero brought about by his immaturity of what’s good and what’s not in life. With his teachings against this, we carried them through the years that I and Toto never have them and neither do my two sons or of his two sons too.
Since Nanay passed away in November 1984, Tatay never entertained the idea of ever marrying again. He reasoned out that there was no need for such another married life. He was that loyal and faithful to our Nanay. Instead, he just devoted his time to live the rest of his life with us and enjoy his time with his grandchildren. He remained and lived with Baby Perla and her family to the end. In his mid-70s, Tatay was already almost blind but can still entertain and recognize people by their ways or voices. And even at past 80, Tatay was still physically fit and very much alert as he never experienced senility like most people getting old.
Somehow, once in a while and later very often he had to see a doctor when his health started to deteriorate despite that he quit smoking many decades earlier. And when it was already time for him to go, Tatay returned to his Creator peacefully and without pain in February 1992.
When Tatay died, he was survived by his only sister Nany Saba who still lived in Dueñas. Tatay’s other brothers like elder brother Cocoy Luis died decades earlier in Marbel and younger brother Tatay Polding who lived in Janiuay, Iloilo died much earlier. In life, Tatay had lots of close relatives and friends to boast of that even in death, they still showed their closeness to him by following him to their graves. If it were only mere coincidence, four of them died in the same year Tatay died. A few weeks after Tatay passed away, Tatay Tiok and Tatay Bien also died days apart. Then a few months later, Tatay Marianing also died of illness. And before the end of the year, one of Tatay’s very close friends, Pablo Brasileño, Sr. or Abog as he was better known also died of his illness. He was a US war veteran, a former policeman and town councilor who when meeting Tatay cracked jokes with each other for fun and to their enjoyment. In death, Nong Abog looked much like American actor James Coburn of the In like Flint fame.
As a fourth degree member of the Knights of Columbus, Tatay was given a necrological service before being brought to his grave by the Isulan Council No. 6651 at the San Carlos Borromeo Church attended by many of the members of the Order, relatives, friends and by the townspeople. Tatay’s remains and those of Nanay’s are entombed side by side at the D’ Heavenly Garden Memorial Park located in Impao, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat. This memorial cemetery is owned and operated by Inday Celina and her family.
In conclusion, I believe that what I’ve wrote about this proud poor boy from Dueñas, baquero, mess boy, driver, magician, merchant, knight and proud father is a very fitting tribute to our beloved Tatay who we all looked up to as “the greatest man in the world” in our terms.
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