Rene missed onion- skinned Sangilo miners
>> Sunday, February 5, 2023
LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
MARCH FIANZA
BAGUIO CITY -- Rene
Aquitania, 61. I have not missed him since the last time I saw him crossing
Burnham road sometime in November last year. I wanted to park and say hello but
I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic.
I heard he passed on while in bed in Sagada on Jan. 18 last week. That afternoon, I was attending the launch-prescon for the Chinese Spring Festival at the Supreme Hotel but I took the news of his passing lightly, thinking that it could just be some joke.
Then I felt the sentiment creeping in on me when I was told of his wake scheduled at the Ili Likha art hub. I skipped the night, not wanting to see him lying there so that the better days and happier times would remain as they were.
I was with Rene sometime in 1984 when he hiked from Baguio to Manila, pulling a komboy’s kariton (porter’s cart) where he loaded his gear for the five-day walk. I walked and rode on and off tricycles in some portions of his journey, particularly in Tarlac where I caught up with him.
Rene’s walk was done to reenact and find out how Benguet folks then brought their products to Manila before the 1909 City Charter of the American colonizers. We had the time to talk and find out how the trip was going when he stopped to drink water and took short rests under shady trees along the highway.
I remember Rene telling me that he also imagined himself being part of the “death march” when wounded and hungry Filipino and American soldiers walked to Manila after they were defeated by Japanese soldiers in WW2.
I took pictures of his walk in B&W, never reenacted by anyone until now, but misplaced the negs and printed copies somewhere. I have to look for them since they are the only link left of that memorable event.
A natural performing street artist he was, maybe the first in the country even before we heard of street artists performing in other parts of Asia, but he was also aware of politics, daily news and the music of “The Band” and Bob Dylan. It was he who gave me a cassette tape of the “Planet Waves” sometime in 1988.
In so many instances, I caught him reading newspapers at the newsstand at Malcolm Square. I am certain that if he was here with us today, he would be talking about the low farm gate price of sibuyas in Nueva Vizcaya.
Rene would know that the MOA between Poblacion, Itogon and Sangilo Mines was signed in a rush by LGU and onion-skinned mine officials, leaving out the concerns of downstream barangays who are equally affected by the physical danger posed by the raising of the dam’s crest.
Farewell Rene, till we meet again in your next walk.
I heard he passed on while in bed in Sagada on Jan. 18 last week. That afternoon, I was attending the launch-prescon for the Chinese Spring Festival at the Supreme Hotel but I took the news of his passing lightly, thinking that it could just be some joke.
Then I felt the sentiment creeping in on me when I was told of his wake scheduled at the Ili Likha art hub. I skipped the night, not wanting to see him lying there so that the better days and happier times would remain as they were.
I was with Rene sometime in 1984 when he hiked from Baguio to Manila, pulling a komboy’s kariton (porter’s cart) where he loaded his gear for the five-day walk. I walked and rode on and off tricycles in some portions of his journey, particularly in Tarlac where I caught up with him.
Rene’s walk was done to reenact and find out how Benguet folks then brought their products to Manila before the 1909 City Charter of the American colonizers. We had the time to talk and find out how the trip was going when he stopped to drink water and took short rests under shady trees along the highway.
I remember Rene telling me that he also imagined himself being part of the “death march” when wounded and hungry Filipino and American soldiers walked to Manila after they were defeated by Japanese soldiers in WW2.
I took pictures of his walk in B&W, never reenacted by anyone until now, but misplaced the negs and printed copies somewhere. I have to look for them since they are the only link left of that memorable event.
A natural performing street artist he was, maybe the first in the country even before we heard of street artists performing in other parts of Asia, but he was also aware of politics, daily news and the music of “The Band” and Bob Dylan. It was he who gave me a cassette tape of the “Planet Waves” sometime in 1988.
In so many instances, I caught him reading newspapers at the newsstand at Malcolm Square. I am certain that if he was here with us today, he would be talking about the low farm gate price of sibuyas in Nueva Vizcaya.
Rene would know that the MOA between Poblacion, Itogon and Sangilo Mines was signed in a rush by LGU and onion-skinned mine officials, leaving out the concerns of downstream barangays who are equally affected by the physical danger posed by the raising of the dam’s crest.
Farewell Rene, till we meet again in your next walk.
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