To express our heartfelt gratitude to all of
you who have condoled with us in the
passing away of a loved one, we find no word or phrase deep and meaningful
enough. Suffice it to say that, indeed,
we are all grateful for your expressions of grief and sympathies with us in
this time of extremely difficult and sad moments.
In the context of our traditional clan value
system in Itbayat, we call our brothers older than we are as kaka. Hence, I used to call Kuya Flor as Kaka
Tinong, but had to upgrade that to Kuya Flor given the circumstances of
improved social conditions in Los Baños when I joined him
there in 1963. Having known Kuya Flor
from my earliest years in Itbayat to times until today, I can say with very
high confidence that he was of a different kind. He was, indeed, acknowledged by our clan as
one of a different kind of human, clearly different in terms of intellectual
capacity compared to other members of our clan.
His philosophy of life was, “others first before myself.” But he never spoke of it, he just did it
without fanfare, not even a slight mention of it at any time. He always said, “people will know you by your
deeds, not by what you talk of.”
I was holding his hands and stroking his
forehead in his final gasps and with a slight grip he asked me to tell those he
had encounters before, “I did all my best as an individual but I was never perfect. Whatever my shortcomings, please forgive me
as I have forgiven those who happen to owe me something.” I’m now relaying that message to all. Kindly respond positively to such message so
he can rest in peace.
I repeat, Kuya Flor was a good man, but he was
not perfect. When the plusses and the
minusses cancel out I am certain that there would still be more than enough
plusses left to remind all of us that sometime in the past we have connected
with this man so highly generous, so intellectually active, and who was
actually ahead of his time.
I think one of his traits that many of us shall
find difficult to forget is his willingness, belief, and wish to resolve
problems of others because he didn’t like others to have any problem that he
could have helped resolve. “I don’t like
to leave behind problems,” he did say in his last couple of weeks in this
world.
On behalf of his wife, Ate Aida, who is herself
having a battle with health problems at the moment, and both the Librero and
Recto families, I wish to express our very deep gratitude to all of you who
have condoled with us and who are saying prayers for the repose of Kuya’s soul. I am not able to mention the names of
everyone, but Kuya loved all the brothers and sisters of Ate Aida and their children
and grand children as much as he did his own siblings and their children and
grand children.
To all of you who are here now, and those who
could not be here and yet have expressed their condolences, thank you from the
bottom of our hearts for condoling with us.
I wish we were gathered here now for a much happier moment, but then
again this is part of our life’s journey in this world.
Kuya is now on his next journey, but I know he
is still around us here and has seen everything. So, Kuya we are all happy to feel that you
are now proceeding with your journey.
Don’t worry about us, you already have solved our problems, and we will
be all right.
Kuya, now you will see only a pair of foot
prints behind you. Those are the foot
prints of the one carrying you.
Kuya, I
know I will see you again. Good bye.
Funeraria Paz, Lipa City
27 September 2016
