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Musicians set concert at Amarillo for ailing boy
By Ramon Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- Newsman-folksinger David March Fianza is striking up the country bands for a benefit concert dedicated to a 10-year old ailing boy on Oct. 28 at the Amarillo Bar and Restaurant here.

At least 15 individual soloists and group performers have signed up for “Songs for Mark Anthony”, a four-hour evening treat supported by the DPS Barangay where the boy lives in a rented room with his widowed father and elder sister.

His dad, 50-year old Ernesto Viray, a part-time taxi and family driver, said the kid was supposed to be in the fifth grade, but quit after his ailment – Hodgkin’s lymphoma – was confirmed by biopsy last August.

Taking on his fight, Fianza rang up the bands, hoping the could raise some amount to help keep the boy’s dream alive. Mark Anthony dreams of becoming a pilot one day, his father said.

“Idi pay laeng tallo tawen na, panpanunoten nan ti agsakay ken agsuro nga agpatayab idi nakakita ti eroplano (Since he was three, he has been dreaming of riding and learning to fly a plane when he saw one),” Ernesto said.

Performing with Fianza are the Cruise Control, Blue Graz, Shakilan, Dalluyon, Munay ( bamboo flute artist from Bolivia), Mix Emotions, NYT Moves, musician-lawyers Bubut Olarte, Rolly Vergara, Nes Mondok, Angie Cabrera and Sara, publisher-editor Alfred Dizon, Art Mina, Liza and Sumitra, Brix, Mike Santos and Co., Dick and Libnah Oakes.

The DPS barangay council headed by village chief Narcisa Laguitan gave its blessings to the musicians’ effort in a meeting with Fianza and the boy’s father. The medical case was referred to Samaritans by DPS councilman Boying de Guzman, a brother of expat Samaritan Freddie de Guzman.

Mark Anthony is due for his third chemotherapy. His first two sessions were supported by former world traditional karate champion Julian Chees and other donors. Chees, head of the Shoshin (Beginner’s Mind) Karate School in Southern Germany, contributed P20,000.

Just last week, the boy received a gift package from expat couple Paul and Jenelyn Balanza in Midland, Michigan. It included a model airplane.

Marichu Sarmiento, director of PAL Foundation, also called up Friday, saying the airlines is willing to have him on a simulated plane ride once doctors clear him for it.