BENCHWARMER

Two country songs
RAMON DACAW

It’s the first stanza of “You Don’t Count the Costs” from country musician Billy Dean.” It happens to a mother, when she is giving birth/ Her heart is filled with joy, while her body’s filled with hurt/ She holds the baby close to her, despite the pain he caused/ When it comes to love, you don’t count the cost.”

And then the refrain: “You don’t count the heartache, you don’t count the sacrifice/ All that counts is what you feel inside/ It doesn’t really matter what is gained or what is lost/ When it comes to love, you don’t count the cost.”

Jimmy Bernabe, Cesar Marzan, Nick Calinao, or whoever is on country radio anchor, please spin the piece this morning. If you please, follow it up with that other Dean composition with this refrain:

“If there hadn’t been you, where would I be/ If there hadn’t been you here for me/ I made it through times I never would have made it through/ If there hadn’t been you.”

The two songs are for three mothers of substance who are also widows: Maria Paz “Datsu” Molintas of Gibraltar Barangay, Juvy Lardizabal of San Vicente and Esperanza Pinas of Balili, La Trinidad, Benguet.

Esperanza’s husband, traditional karate blackbelt and businessman Ernesto, passed on the Saturday afternoon. He was 48. He was set to be buried yesterday on the family lot. He left Espie four kids – Froilan, Medley Ann, John Ezer, and Amir Philip.

Erning’s colleagues and subordinates in the Japan Karate Association vowed to honor him by proceeding with his plan aborted by death to teach barangay tanods the basics of the martial arts discipline he practiced for years. ***
Juvy’s husband, 37-year old radio journalist Florentino “Lakay Tinong” Lardizabal, was laid to rest Thursday morning at the Heaven’s Garden, a beautiful memorial park at Loakan, overlooking the panoramic view of Kennon Rd. and the city.

Juvy and her orphaned kids - Von Charles, 16; Yvonne Charielle, 10; Trisha Loren, 6; and Florentino III, a year and nine months – will repair to the Busol Watershed this morning. In a secluded patch, Tinong will be memorialized with a pine seedling, beside others earlier planted in honor of members of Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club who had preceded him to the newsroom in the sky. ***
Datsu, daughter of a sugar baron in Bacolod, fell in love and married Mike Molintas, a pony boy at the Wright Park.. When she lost Mike in 1994, Datsu single-handedly raised their four sons, including Nino Joshua, the youngest who was born with a life-threatening heart defect.

With a widow’s might and a mother’s love, Nino survived several surgeries, the latest of which was the other week. The orphaned family had triumphed over a series of seemingly unending trials and misfortunes, a crucible of suffering that somehow steeled its members’ bonding with each other. A

fter Nino recovered from heart surgery, he visited the late Philippine Star columnist Art Borjal who wrote of his plight, triggering support for the operation. Nino gave Art a taped copy of Dean’s “If It Hadn’t Been You.”

The song is in memory of Mr. Borjal and Dr. Emerenciana Collado, Nino’s cardiologist who later succumbed to cancer. It’s for all of Nino’s doctors and nurses since he was born, his Samaritans from all over, including Conrad Marzan, Bubut Olarte and other folksingers who sang it for him and other patients during years of fund—raising concerts for the sick.
***
It’s for the family of Joel Aliping, Princess Lea, Freddie de Guzman, an Ibaloi woman in Kentucky and other expats who keep in touch through remittances for the ill and needy. Some of them believe I’m sometimes needy and insist to foot my coffee bill or jeepney fare.

“If It Hadnt’ Been You” is for an anonymous lady who , on her way to her own medical check-up, wrote a check for P50,000 distributed to patients, P5,000 of which helped pay Nino’s hospital bills the other week. ***
It’s for two mestizo friends who swore to stop reaching out to the sick the moment I name them here. It’s for Jenelyn, my niece who frowned when fellow newsman Eli Refuerzo and I wrote about her reaching out to my parents’ hometown in Hungduan., Ifugao.

So play that Billy Dean song again, Sir Nick Calinao. It’s in memory of Dr. Natividad Relucio-Clavano, the Baguio girl who pioneered the world’s breast-feeding program and introduced the early mother-baby bonding approach in hospital management.

It’s also for an Illustrious Baguio boy and father – Dr. Juan Flavier whose “Oplan Alis Disease” saved thousands, if not millions of those bundles of joy for mothers and fathers.
***
Just as I was ending this piece, bank vice-president Rolly de Guzman of RCBC-Session called. He said another anonymous, regular donor sent P6,000. It will be for Nino’s post-surgery medication and tests for scoliosis. A pleasant Mother’s Day to all of you.. (e-mail:rdacawi@yahoo.com for comments).