I got a surprise call from Sgt. Jerry two hours ago. He was my very first close in security assigned to us by General Jun, his commander from the Marines. That must be 15 years ago. He left, came back and left again. His last posting with us was cut short because he had a fight with one of the marines assigned to us too. The other officer just arrived from his assignment in the battlefield in Jolo and could be suffering from post-war syndrome. General Jun pulled him out kasi baka biglang pagbabarilin yung mga kasamahan nya, baka nagha-hallucinate daw na nasa bakbakan pa sya.
Sgt. Jerry has since been re-assigned to different officials. He called this morning, kala ko to greet me happy valentines. He never failed to greet me happy bday. He asked me “Mam, nakapunta ho ba kayo sa Manila Memorial Park?” Long story short, I didn’t know that Jun had died before Christmas. He had a heart attack daw. He was 63.
I immediately called our common friend, a top officer from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “Pambihira ka naman, hindi mo sinabi sa akin na namatay na pala si Jun?”
He said lahat pinatawagan nya, nawala sa isip nya na kakilala ko si Jun. Ulyanin na sya.
He’s 73 and makakalimutin na rin. The three of us, together with a tv crew and other government officials flew to Zamboanga and Jolo some 25 years ago. We did a short documentary of the place and featured the joint efforts of the military and the local government in promoting livelihood.
The day he died, he was supposed to attend a meeting. He texted our his colleagues to say that he couldn’t make it to their meeting. He said he was resting because he just came from the hospital. That was 10 am. At 11 am, the daughter was calling to say that he had a heart attack and died.
Kumpare ko si Jun. Some people were intimidated by his presence because he moved around with at least two marine officers bearing long firearms and in complete battle gear uniforms. Ha ha ha, natatakot sa kanya. They didn’t know that Jun was such a sweet and kind fellow.
Goodbye kumpare. Maraming salamat.
