Escapades with a race car driver

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March Fianza

In memory of Ceferino Willy Jr., 62, I dedicate this space. Jun or Manong Jun to younger newsmen had lots of unforgettable adventures that happened in the prime of his life, especially during his stint as the lead man and manager of Peoples Television 8 (PTV-8 Baguio).

A number of these exploits are quite familiar to me because I was then a permanent passenger during several media coverages by the government TV station’s 8-cylinder Toyota Land Cruiser gas guzzler that we called Blue Bird.

In most trips in the Cordillera immediately before, during and after the 1990 killer earthquake, Jun took the wheel with Richard S. Valdez in the front seat while Joseph “Jo Es” Esteras, Jorge Pawid and I were backseat drivers. In some instances, Richard, Jo Es and Jorge steered the Blue Bird alternately.

Jun was fond of cars and machines, especially sports car models so that he can spend the whole afternoon talking about his interests with the late Angelito “Toots” Soberano, another sports car aficionado who left earlier on December 25, 2014 for a race track in the sky.

Sometime in 1992, Jun and Richard were driving and enjoying a newly refurbished sports car to get their travel visas from the US embassy in Manila when unluckily, they got involved in a freak accident somewhere along the highway in Tarlac.

A flying cow landed on Jun’s new car. It was not another joke fabricated by the inseparable pair because, according to police reports, that literally happened. A truck that was speeding ahead of them hit an astray cow on the highway, the cow flew towards heaven then smashed Jun’s windshield.

Luckily, Jun was hurt with a few bumps but Richard was rushed to the St. Lukes Hospital in Quezon City for the painful removal of little shards of windshield glass that got stuck in his eyes.

A few days later, the duo got their visas for their trip to the US with Baguio officials and became two happy Igorots who wanted to get lost in Los Angeles, California.

A year later, I was again with the PTV-8 team in Mountain Province, along with the late Toots and fellow newsman Fred Puntawe, to cover the release of seven Tadian cops who were hostaged by the New People’s Army.

When we were not in a room at the Chico Inn, the Blue Bird was practically converted into a traveling newsroom as we had with us typewriters, walkie-talkies and wireless telephones, the communication units that preceded the cellphones of today.

And we had Jun who, without difficulty, maneuvered the gravel mountain highway to deliver our news articles to the newsrooms, just in time for the deadline. For a straight month, the Blue Bird crisscrossed Sagada, Besao, Bontoc, Tadian, and Baguio – just gathering news from mountain folks with a few bottles of San Miguel gin in between.

In 1994, Jun and the same team were again called to Tinglayan, Kalinga to cover the recall of Armalite rifles from members of the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA) in exchange for livelihood projects.

The one-lane narrow road to Tinglayan was treacherous that any motorist may fall off the cliff down to the Chico River if one of the wheels slipped. Although Jun was the master driver of the Blue Bird, he made our hearts jump and “relocated” our balls on our foreheads because once in a while, he would drive through that Tinglayan road like he was traveling on an airport tarmac.

The road leading to the Mt. Santo Tomas relay towers is likewise a death-defying trail, and so with Mt. Caniaw, Vigan where communication antennae for shipping lines, government and military relay towers are installed. On few occasions, we travelled these roads but never came upon unpleasant trips because Jun had watchful eyes and steady hands.

Mang Jun met the Master race car driver on Christmas Day 2015, the same day as Toots did. What an unholy hour to go on a very Holy Day as Christmas. Or do race car drivers have the talent to pick their own time to bid farewell?

So long Jun. In the meantime, allow us to tell stories and memories of you.