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My son, Gil, was taking a shower Monday morning in
preparation for a meeting when he suddenly collapsed. We rushed him
to the FEU Hospital in Fairview, Quezon City, where his condition
was diagnosed as “very critical.” He was wheeled post-haste into
the Critical Care Unit.
He had suffered from a massive
stroke that damaged almost the whole left side of his brain. For
three days, he desperately battled the disease but to no avail as
his condition grew worse by the hour.
Death came Wednesday night at
about 10 p.m., cutting short a promising PR career and leaving his
family and friends immeasurably impoverished by his loss.
Gil had shown no sign of being
ill. During the few times that he visited us (his family lives in
North Olympus, a subdivision about five kilometers from our home in
Fairview), he appeared hale and hearty. His sudden demise came as a
great shock to me and his bedridden mother (also a stroke victim),
his siblings and his wife, a nurse who was away working in a Saudi
hospital.
His two sisters and a brother
residing in the US and another sister living in Hong Kong, unable to
bear the emotional torment, came home last night to see and touch
their brother for the last time. The tragedy brought us one and
whole again.
Gil’s departure has been
excruciatingly painful. He was the first of my nine full-grown
children to leave this earth. He was 53 and I, at the ripe age of
80, had never imagined that it will fall upon me to honor him at his
death.
But my great pain has been
assuaged by the offers of heartfelt condolences from his former
bosses and friends. They came in various forms—material aid,
flowers, text messages, personal and phone calls. I have been so
touched by their great gesture that tears welled in my heart.
I was surprised at how fast the
news of the tragedy had traveled. On the morning immediately after
Gil’s death, I received a text message from Sen. Loren Legarda,
asking where his body was to be brought for the vigil. Gil had
worked as press officer to the senator.
Chairman Domingo Panganiban of
the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), Gil’s immediate boss,
was shocked when he was told by his staff that Gil had suffered the
stroke. He alerted his staff to monitor his condition at the
hospital.
The moment he learned of Gil’s
death, Panganiban personally led his staff to come to Gil’s wake
at Funeraria Nacional. His PR staff has maintained a continuing
presence at the vigil, an indication of how much Gil was held in
high esteem by his boss and office mates. (Gil had been press
officer also to Panganiban as agriculture secretary.)
It was Gil’s good fortune to
have worked under the most benevolent employers—Senator Ople,
Senator Legarda and Secretary Panganiban.
The outpourings of sympathy from
Klink Ang, Fred de la Rosa and Rene Bas, my friends at The Manila
Times where I write a column; from Toots Ople and Mila Cruz, Gil’s
office mates during the two terns of the late statesman Blas Ople as
senator; from NAPC officials and employees; and from his host of
friends have immensely lightened our emotional burden.
It has been heartwarming to see
the room, where Gil’ body lies, lined with flowers—expressions
of genuine sympathy from the givers. They came from Senator Legarda,
Secretary Panganiban, Senator and Mrs. Nene Pimentel, Mayor Sonny
Belmonte of Quezon City, the NAPC, National Press Club president
Benny Antiporda, Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan of the Malacañang
Office of External Affairs, Mrs. Anita R. Rosario (widow of my
brother Eddie), and Nestor Buemio, Gil’s bosom friend. (I beg the
indulgence of those who have made similar offers but whose names I
failed to mention because the flowers they have sent came after my
press deadline.)
I wish to thank all of them, as
well as those who have come to Gil’s vigil to share with us our
grief. I also thank my late brother’s children led by Court of
Appeals Justice Ricardo Rosario for standing by us during our
darkest hours at the FEU Hospital , desperately hoping for Gil’s
recovery.
Gil had had his dream of a
successful PR career and fulfilled it, but death deprived him of the
full enjoyment of his triumph. May God keep him by His side and
bless his soul.
agr0324@yahoo.com
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