A few good men

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

by March Fianza

A regrettable concern that bothers one’s mind is the feeling that something important in the burial rites for someone who has passed on was not done. Although the time of mourning is considered an emergency situation, we cannot avoid missing very important matters that were supposed to be performed, maybe due to lack of foresight, forgetfulness, incompetence, lack of coordination, or because someone responsible is not really up to doing what needs to be done for reasons known only to him.

Last month saw the passing of former Congressman Andres A. Cosalan, 86. During his wake, acquaintances retold stories of his accomplishments as congressman for Baguio and Benguet. Among his landmark legislations in collaboration with other lawmakers was RA 4695, popularly dubbed as the “Division Law” because it politically subdivided the Old Mountain Province into four distinct provinces. This resulted to the passage of another house bill that separated the Baguio-Benguet schools division into two, thus reopening hundreds of new jobs for teachers and other school positions.

The 60’s was a period when squatting on public lands was a problem in the city. Hence, he crafted a law that released from government reservations lots already occupied by illegal settlers in barangays Holy Ghost, Cabinet Hill, Bayan Park, Aurora Hill, Magsaysay and Quirino Hill that were declared as official relocation sites. This benefitted hundreds of migrants from the lowlands and upland provinces in the Cordillera.

His contributions to Baguio are best described as unrivaled and should have been properly recognized. Aside from a City Council resolution recognizing the former solon’s deeds, I wonder why his remains was not asked to be brought to City Hall for viewing or why there was no order to fly at “half-mast” the flags in the city to finally mark and acknowledge his role as a true builder of Baguio and as an outstanding citizen.  

Cosalan’s passing was followed by the untimely death of Robert D. Sinot Sr., 58. This was communicated to me while I was in Kiangan. According to my insan Roger, he and his sisters toiled and were busy with school work while his Manong Robert was different as he was always having a good time and forgot about going back to school. Robert was born with a silver spoon and always had the money to spend. He was simply a “happy go lucky” guy. But what makes him different from the rest of the happy squanderers was that he had a soft heart when he welcomed into his home a baby girl that the mama who was his girlfriend then, claimed as his daughter, even while he knew that it was not. That was not an easy feat to follow. I know of many other Roberts who would run away from situations like that.

Then during Robert’s burial at Sipitan, Asin; I received information that Dr. Charles Cheng, 81, died of Dengue. I have known Dr. Cheng as a doctor who does not charge his patients for fees comparable to the way doctors in other hospitals do. I know because he did not charge me any fee when I was his acupuncture patient. Aside from doing a newspaper column and writing books about the hazards of chemical farming, the doctor is in to sports. He has introduced me to out-of-school children that he has gathered to form a boxing team saying, “I saw that these young boys can be useful if they join a boxing team, anyway they are just out in the streets boxing and hurting each other.” Dr. Cheng, the real barrio doctor who was already a multi-awarded medical practitioner in western and oriental medicine, truly deserved to be an outstanding citizen of Baguio, unlike the other so-called outstanding citizens that I know.    

The reaper did not stop there. I received information that Manong Victor B. Laoyan, 69, expired on his hospital bed last Monday. The last time I chatted with him was when I dropped by his bed at his Betag house after his wife Frances passed on last year. The dialogue was the usual “kumustati Session Road, kumusta ti gobyerno, kumusta ni Ronnie?” Although I knew that he was well informed of what was going on because I saw that newspapers were stacked on his bedside. Maybe suspecting that I was getting bored with his questioning, he told me a story of his days as a provincial board member in Benguet.

His defiance and opposition to the policies set by elder politicians in the Capitol led to the establishment of the Lamut Elementary School in Beckel, La Trinidad. He said that when he proposed a two-classroom school building in Lamut and a teacher in Atok who was from Lamut be reassigned to her own barangay, his colleagues in the board disapproved of it because there were no funds. But because of a burning wish that a school be built in Lamut, he delivered waste construction material to the site and successfully constructed the school building. He later pushed for the reassignment of the teacher from Atok to Lamut. I saw his eyes water as he said, if he did not do what he did, Lamut Elementary School might not have been established. Brod in law Julius Kollin said, the remains of the man who was named “Victor” because he was born in 1944 when the Allied Forces won the war, was cremated October 5, 2013.

These four distinct personalities have exceptional accomplishments that they did in extreme ways. A few good men we have. May their tribe increase. – ozram.666@gmail.com