Portrait of a life of sharing

COMMUNITY BILLBOARD

Vicente A. Sapguian

Despite the anguish and pain, Ramon Dacawi faces life with a smile. Himself now a dialysis patient tied to the dialysis machine four hours a day, four times a week, he still relates  humor stories that deeply provoke entertaining enlightenment and the smiles and laughters that remind one how sweet and precious life is.

This man amazingly radiates confidence and calm that is contagious to other troubled lives.

I am witness to countless instances when Dacawi would appeal for support for helpless  financially deprived patients. Most of those who would respond immediately are those who know him, of like hearts but would prefer to remain anonymous.

Of late, that he has to be confined almost monthly in the hospital, friends would hand him cash and insist that he use the money for himself. A luck, Dacawi keeps sharing it with his crowd of indigent patients who intermittently seek for hope even for just a while more of extended life on this plane.

One of Dacawi’s doctors observed that even if the sick man is barely conscious, some visiting relatives of those patients still find ways to whisper in his ears their desperation for  cash. This prompted one of his doctors to restrict visitors whenever he is confined in the hospital.  “I cannot ignore them all the time. Their needs are real and I understand,” Dacawi says.

It is inspiring to note that the culture of sharing and helping is passed and sustained by association from a good heart to another.

The Baguio City council has enacted Ordinance No. 44 S. 2016 approved by Mayor Mauricio Domogan providing to cosponsor a concert production by a loose group of Baguio- based artists led by sculptor Gilbert Gano Alberto.

The concert production will feature “a unique mixture of ethnic and contemporary dance and music highlighting people as instruments of promoting the value of life and environmental protection.”

Sculptor Alberto beams that the city council gave free use of the Baguio City Convention Center for the concert and stage production on November 25, 2016.  It also unanimously approved the exemption for the payment of amusement tax provided that the necessary permits are complied. This gesture from the city council and the concerted efforts of this loose group of artists boosts a lot of morale for our endeavor to extend help for the treatment of Mr. Dacawi, Alberto says.

I remember a story Ramon Dacawi related to me once.

During his high school days at the University of Baguio Science High, he often walks to and from school from their abode in Pacdal. One afternoon, he came home dripping wet from the rain. Mike Molintas, one of the leaders of the Pacdal pony boys engaged him in small talk asking him how he is doing in school.

The next Monday, Mike Molintas went to their house early in the morning as Ramon was preparing for school. He was holding a flesh brown jacket that Ramon noticed was well-washed and pressed not to mention its expensive quality.

“Nakitak nga adu nailugan mo iti kabalyo idi kalman nga Domingo. Mabalin gatangem  man daytoy jacket ko iti tallo pesos laeng ta masapul ko unay kuarta?”(I saw that you earned enough from your horse yesterday. Will you please buy my jacket for three pesos because I need money badly?) Molintas asked Dacawi.

Ramon took the jacket. He knew he needed it for his daily use against the cold weather. It puzzled him though why Mike Molintas was giving it to him for a very cheap price.

Later when Mike Molintas died of a lingering illness leaving a son suffering from congenital heart disease, Ramon swore in this kind man’s grave that the son will live.

Nino Joshua Molintas lives up to this day and has never escaped celebrating his birthday without Ramon Dacawi.