Continuation of Noel Oliva’s Life Story

This is the continuation of Noel Oliva’s Life Story

NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE

On October 22, 2000 at 10:30 pm while riding on his motorcycle from the R&L Billiard Hall in Calumpang owned by Judge Rosa Tatad, Noel met an accident that almost took his life. There was a passenger jeepney that tried to overtake another jeepney. The driver miscalculated his speed and safe distance and instead, the jeep swerved to the left hitting Noel’s motorcycle head-on which sent Noel flying some three houses away. His bloodied body was found on the roof of a parked car.

His limbs were broken, all teeth gone, right eyelid sliced off, intestines out, muscle on left leg scraped, his left thumb almost cut-off, forehead had a large gaping wound, broken skull and broken right thigh. Not to mention that his motorbike was annihilated.

COMATOSE FOR TWO DAYS

He was comatose for two days. With the amount of injuries he sustained, no one expected him to wake-up. He was as good as dead.

He regained consciousness on the third day but still unable to speak, move and open his eyes.

He said he remembered going to a very serene place. He saw lots of trees, blue water (he didn’t say if lake, river or ocean), white clouds everywhere.

Noel claimed that he heard a male voice which he described as “malamig yung boses”
The voice told him not to pay attention to anyone he would see. “Hindi ka para dito, kung sino man ang makikita mo o tatawag sa’yo, huwag mong lilingunin dahil baka mapilitan kang manatili dito”.

“At pagbalik mo dun sa iyong pinanggalingan, ibahagi mo sa kanila na kahit sino man ay dapat hindi maghusga sa iyong ginagawa, dahil ako lang ang may karapatan”.

He saw three people he knew were still alive. Mara, Allan and the boyfriend of one of his dance students. Noel didn’t know his name but he knew he’s a high school student. These three were still alive and living in Binangonan at that time.

He spent a little over a month in the hospital. His mommy Cresing had to sell a parcel of land in the island of Tabon. Good that during that time, Lucio Tan was buying as much land as they could in the island. She had a ready buyer. Out of the two million pesos proceeds, the P1.7M went to Noel’s hospitalization.

Years after he was discharged from the hospital, Noel still found himself unable to go back to his old life because recovery from his major injuries were slow, and expensive.

The jeepney driver didn’t give Noel even a single centavo. After collecting one hundred fifty thousand pesos (P150,000.00) from the insurance company, the couple who owned the jeepney did not give Noel anything contrary to what was promised. The driver had since died of heart ailment and the last time Noel visited the wife in Muzon, Taytay where the couple was from, she was sick. She had been bedridden for five years. Noel was supposed to be following up on the settlement but she couldn’t give him anything.

Out of the 150k insurance money, they could have given him even 50k to help defray his medical expenses.

It’s been 15 years but until now, Noel’s left leg still has an open wound that never heals. He sustains this thru regular doctor visits, cleaning of his wound, and taking some medication to avert worsening of the infection. He felt relieved when doctors changed their minds about amputating his leg.

The three people Noel claimed he saw in that “serene place” while he was in comatose had died one after the other in an interval of six months, counting from the day Noel was discharged from the hospital. First was Allan, 42, who was killed when his motorbike slammed into a parked FX. He died of internal hemorrhage. After six months, the boyfriend of Noel’s dance student, a high school student, 16, died in another motorcycle incident with a jeepney. He was declared dead on the spot. After six months, it was Mara’s time to die. Noel said Mara’s also a beki (bakla) like him. She died at the age of 38 from Myocardial infarction (MI).

Noel inherited some properties from his adoptive mother Cresing. The house he lives in. Parcel of land and a row of apartment which he sold to raise P600,000 when he ran for barangay kagawad in Libid (he lost).

Noel walks with a limp due to the major injuries he sustained. But despite all that, he is happy to be alive. He survived and fought for his continued stay on earth.

His days are now guided by the lessons he had learned from his painful experiences:
1. Be contented with what you have.
2. Acceptance of who you are.
3. Be thankful for what you have. He gave as an example what other gay people that he knew were doing, they have 1,000 pesos but not happy with that, they will try to do something bad or come up with a scheme to have 5,000 pesos.
4. Money is not everything. Kapwa tao is more important.

According to him, the Voice also told him to do good to others. “Hindi mo kailangan baguhin kung sino ka, pero gumawa ka ng mabuti at tumulong sa kapwa”. This he interpreted in relation to his being gay. That the voice told him it’s okay to be gay as long as he’s a good person. He uses his talent to help others. Teaching dance is the talent he shares to people.