Passinhon’s book launch highlights life lessons and gratitude for ‘Grand Old Man of Passi’
ILOILO City – Thankful for what she and her family have become, a native of Passi City will launch a book on Feb. 4, 2023 (Saturday) at the City of Passi Arena at 2 p.m.
Both a biography of Filoteo “Pilot” Palmares Sr. and autobiography of Lori Fundal Pilatan from the accounts of her father Salvador and the oral stories told by Filoteo Sr.’s family members, the book entitled, “My Father, His Earth Angel (the Man with the Golden Heart) and Me” has contents that every Filipino who has worked overseas can relate with.
Pilatan, who has worked in Canada for decades, has come home to Passi to launch the book in support of the newly launched Pag-ulikid Program of the Office of the City Mayor through its History, Culture, and the Arts Program. The book will be sold for P800.
The book recounts how Filoteo dreamt to be a nurse, studied in Manila, but did not make it because of extreme poverty, and returned to Passi with dreams of becoming successful.
His motto was “Hard work and good credit” and with no capital but the trust of other businessmen and the people, he was able to acquire wealth, buying hundreds of hectares of land in the municipality of Passi.
Based on the book of Pilatan, Filoteo became the first commonwealth mayor of Passi for 10 years and the Republic for 11 years “with exemplary and unprecedented records”.
“He was the epitome of triumph over tragedies,” wrote Pilatan adding that at one point, he contemplated having a boy and bodyguard to go with him while going around the barangays and that was how he met Salvador, the father of Lori.
Salvador worked for Filoteo and he noticed that the young man had a good eye for livestock and loaned him money for a business of buy-and-sell of livestock. Through the years, he also acquired hundreds of hectares of land and also became successful. He was there for Filoteo all the way and considered Filoteo the “god” of his life.
However, bad luck came to Salvador.
His wife died and left him with six young children, two of whom had special needs. He remarried and had eight more children with the mother of Lori. He also faced bankruptcy and grieved the death of three sons who were full
of promise and too young to die.
Lori stepped up together with her sister Inday Fe and helped their father who had “already sank” because their three older brothers who were also breadwinners had died. They were able to pay his debts, redeem his land, and get his dignity back before he died.
“The lesson God showed my father was Filoteo was but an instrument and that the reality is without God, people are nothing,” said Pilatan who is also the author of three other books.
The rest of the book, “My Father, His Earth Angel (the Man with the Golden Heart) and Me” is an interesting story about Passi, its people, history, and culture./