Tito Chito

As a kid, we were taught who were my parents' siblings. It was quite interesting, especially on my father's side because there at the living room in my grandparents' house hung a family painting, a copy of their family photo taken during Lolo Paul and Lola Piling's 25th wedding anniversary. The painting was our visual aid to learn and memorize the Valdes-Albano siblings!

I have met all my father's siblings, minus Ramon "Tito Chito" Albano, who, I was told died together with 23 other scouts in an air plane crash on July 28, 1963, exactly 50 years ago.  Reading the souvenir programme published during their 25th death anniversary, I learned that before boarding the plane in Bangkok (going to Greece where the 11th World Scout Jamboree was to be held), he sent a postcard to his family in Manila and to his priest uncle in Ilocos Norte.  Little did everyone know that it would be his way of bidding them adieu.

I was in my junior year in Letran Manila (the same age as when Tito Chito died) when we had this recollection somewhere in the north of the metropolis.  During that religious event, the recollection master exhorted us every now and then: Yakapin ninyo sila habang mainit pa (Hug them while they - parents, loved ones, etc.  - are still alive).  The words cut us through the heart and we, boys though we were, kept on sobbing.

Teenage children that we were at that time, we wanted to be independent. We don't want someone else to talk over us. We wanted our every whim granted.  Being independent has its advantages as it allows an individual to think for himself, to be able to make decisions. However, without proper guidance (from above and from those around them), young people end up taking people and things for granted. Worse, we might live l till we're too old!

Yakapin ninyo sila habang mainit pa. Tito Chito, I guess, would have embraced his loved ones on many occasions.  When was the last time we hugged our children, our spouses, our loved ones?

Yakapin ninyo sila habang mainit pa. Tito Chito's thoughtfulness of sending a (final) postcard shows us to seize every opportunity to value the people around us.  When was the last time we said or wrote words like "I love you", "Thank you", "Take care", "Sweet dreams", "God bless you", or (borrowing Tito Chito's closing lines in his postcard) "Love, kisses, and prayers"? 

Yakapin ninyo sila habang mainit pa.   Tito Chito, aware that he was away from his family, assured them in his postcard, that he was OK, that they need not worry.  In this time and age when families become separated due to migration and the like, when was the last time we sent an e-mail, text, etc.  to those away from us just to let them know that we're alright (or not)?

Yakapin ninyo sila habang mainit pa.  In today's Gospel, Jesus taught us to call God "Father".  As such, we are called to love because that is His essence.  In the spirit of the Boy Scout's motto let us be "Laging Handa" (Always ready) to share the love we have experienced from the Lord, before it's too late.

God bless you kind and sweet soul, Tito Chito!

Erps

The first time I heard about Fr. Ruben J Villote was when I read a magazine an aunt brought home when she visited us.  It was the late 80s and there emerged in the metropolis a Satanic cult which targeted the vulnerable of society, the young people. An article in that magazine featured this menace and Fr. Villote (a.k.a. Fr. Ben or Erps; a colloquial for erpat or father) was one of the resource persons being interviewed. I can't remember what he exactly said.  The only thing I remembered was a photo of a bespectacled man.

 

In a few years' time, I heard about him again through a fellow parishioner, the late Ms. Luisa "Tia Lucing" De Jesus.  Tia Lucing and others from Gagalangin such as Tita Baby Martelino were regular visitors at the Center for Migrant Youth  (CMY) in Cordillera St., Quezon City (It's now located in Fairview).  Fr. Ben was the founder and at that time the center's director. The center, according to the San Jose Seminary website, "offers shelter, school assistance, and pastoral accompaniment for youths from rural areas who migrated to the metropolis".  

 

I got the chance to finally meet the man when Tia Lucing invited me and the AP Youth to join them every second Sunday of the month.

 

Every week, different groups of people would flock to the center to meet Fr. Ben and his wards and bring with them donations such as canned goods, rice, sugar, etc.  We arrived a few minutes before the morning Mass.  Fr. Ben was outside the chapel welcoming people.  Tia Lucing introduced me to him and - surprise, surprise- I discovered that he hailed from Gagalangin! His family's house is located along R. Fernandez St, just next to Our Lady of Piat Clinic. I found out too that he and my uncle Sonny (Dr. Paulino V. Albano Jr.) were schoolmates at the San Jose Seminary. 

 

Before the start of the Mass, Fr. Ben would have a flag ceremony where one of the wards would hoist the Philippine flag and then we'll all sing "Pilipinas kong mahal".  The chapel didn't have pews - all leave their shoes outside and then sit on the mat.  The altar table was as small as a dulang or coffee table with a small chair for the priest to sit on to. He asked me to do the second reading, but before that, he introduced me to everyone as "pamangkin ni Sonny, (ang) kababata ko" (My contemporary Sonny's nephew). 

 

Erps was a soft spoken priest who wasn't in the habit of delivering long homilies. There seems a different flavour of the liturgy every time we attended Mass at the center.  He made it personal, intimate, thought-provoking.  One time, he had sampaguita garlands ready for guests who had celebrations (e.g. birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) at about that time - Tia Lucing got a garland in October as that's when her natal day is remembered.  There was also one Mass when the Gospel was about gratitude and he asked us to tell the person next to us how we appreciated them. I expressed my sincere thanks to the person next to me for her friendship. Guess who it was?  It was Nidz who is now my wife!

 

As we bid CMY adieu, Fr. Ben would tell us "Ikumusta n'yo ako kay Fr. Mar." (Send my regards to Fr. Mar). Fr. Mario "Mar" Enriquez was our parish priest then. (Strangely, Fr. Ben seemed not have been invited to any parish events I know of. Perhaps he was, but was unable to do so because of the demands of his ministry. Puzzling too is that he wasn't recognized by the parish for his efforts. The parish has focused more on awarding its officers, but not those people who have received the light of faith from the parish and shared it unconditionally to the dark alleys where Christ is never heard!)

 

My regular visits to CMY was cut when I stepped down from the APY presidency, but because of my closeness to Tia Lucing, she would keep me updated.  From time to time, I would read Fr. Ben's articles in a popular newspaper.  The last time I talked to him was when I informed him of Lola Piling's death. He was close to my grandparents, my Dad told me.

 

What touched me about Fr. Ben was his love and devotion for the youth who have migrated to the city in search of better opportunities.  More often than not, people leaving home and family (with the notion that Metro Manila is a paradise) end up frustrated, depressed, stuck in the rut.  And it is during these low moments that they become exposed to the menace around them: drugs, prostitution, exploitation, etc. The center is indeed heaven-sent! (Previous to this ministry, he engaged with the poor in his role as parish priest and chaplain.)

 

 Fr. Ben could have opted for a much easier ministry as a priest, but he decided to stay on through thick and thin.  I read that one time there was no food and he went to the prayer room to surrender everything to Divine Providence.  He heard a knock from the door - there were visitors who unexpectedly popped in to share their food! 

 

 

 

He could have chosen to retire and be looked after by his relatives (he had Alzheimer's disease and was confined on a wheel chair), but he preferred to remain with his spiritual children till the end. Like the Good Shepherd who offered His life for the sheep.

 

Thank you, Erps for showing us how to care for the vulnerable, for what Jesus called "the least of my brethren". May you now enjoy the reward He has reserved for those willing "to journey towards the more radical and painful work of renewing the world and restoring all things in Christ so that justice and righteousness may begin to prevail in the New Heaven and the New Earth as a sign of the Second Coming" (taken from Fr. Ben's words when he was interviewed for a magazine's Christmas edition).