Retire and die (5)
Let us help President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Senator Imee Marcos.
The New Filipino tells Bongbong and Imee: Remain steadfast, keep yourselves unperturbed by those who have less of your values, serve the people, unite them, and make the country strong.
Even without the pension, God the Father will not allow me to die.
Three years after our silver wedding anniversary celebration, we got some sad news that chilled me to the bone. My beautiful Luz was diagnosed with cancer of the blood, technically called Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria, that required the right kind and amount of blood for transfusion.
The thought of losing my wife kept me driving on the road to secure blood from one blood bank to another, to save her life or at least lengthen her life with us.
After months of transfusion, on 30 April 1993, the doctor told us that Luz reacted positively to the treatment and told us that the next day she could come home with us. Carrie and I were very happy.
The few days she was conversing and sleeping with us were an eternity of happiness and a joy to remember.
But at the dawn of 10 June 1993, the disease started its effect on the frail body of Luz. I had to quickly bring her to the nearest Philippine Heart Center hospital. I felt her trembling in my arms and sensed her difficulty. The doctors placed her in the intensive care unit.
We lost Luz before sunrise on 10 June 1993. Luz was laid to rest at the Loyola Memorial Park, Marikina, on an elevated burial site I had acquired for the three of us, complete with full first-class service, under the advice of Manager Athena C. Flores of the Program Audit Office of the Commission on Audit.
As Reverend Father Daniel McNamara S.J. commended Luz into the Hands of Our Lord, he prayed: In peace, let us take our Sister Luz to her place of rest.
On 10 June 1994, Luz’s first death anniversary was celebrated in the gardens of the Archbishop’s Palace in Mandaluyong City, attended by some officials and her office mates at the Central Bank of the Philippines.
The first government official to condole with me on the demise of my beloved wife Luz was Senator Teofisto “Tito” Guingona. During the wake, he was with us from seven o’clock in the evening to three o’clock in the morning. He was with me every night until Luz was buried.
Tito Guingona did not allow me to die without a pension. He had always been around when I needed him.
And to think that I am only an ordinary auditor. To be given that much attention by one of the greatest figures in our history, who served the government in so many exalted capacities, is a source of pride and a gift to be grateful.
He is a former delegate to the Constitutional Convention, Chairman of the Commission on Audit, Senator, Secretary of Justice, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to China, and Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines.
The last time I visited him before he became too inadequate, I addressed this to him: “Sir, this is state auditor Art Besana, former auditor of the Philippine Senate from 1989 to 1993, a living witness to your finest hour during that historic moment, when as one of the “Magnificent 12,” with fiercest resolve and without fear of any consequence, you so gallantly kicked out the formidable ground, air and seaborne forces of the greatest country in the world, America, away from our shores.”
After hearing the last word, the living icon of fearless exposes and debates gave me his signature smile and approval.
The government is missing the courage and decency of the Guingonas. TG, the son, will be in our continuation.
“As Reverend Father Daniel McNamara S.J. commended Luz into the Hands of Our Lord, he prayed: In peace, let us take our Sister Luz to her place of rest.
“The
few days that she was conversing and sleeping with us were an eternity of happiness and a joy to remember.