FAREWELL NONOY ( A TRIBUTE TO A DEAR FRIEND )

SMC Corporate Accounting (Head Office Accounting in our Ayala days) is a very close knit family. To this day, we regularly see one another at least once a year for our reunion, on top of having an informal get-together every time a balikbayan colleague pays us a visit. So you could just imagine how despondent we feel every time we lose a member of our family. 

No words could ever express the sentiment of losing not only a colleague, but a dear friend as well. When Nonoy informed me he had the Big C, (details withheld out of respect for him) I was so shocked that I couldn't immediately say something in response to what he just told me. It was something I never really expected, much more wanted to hear. When I finally regained my composure, but still groping for the right words to say, I simply told him " Kaya natin yan Noy. Nothing is impossible with God and the power of prayers." Deep inside though, I knew those words were not, and will never be enough. But how would you react in a situation such as that, and what could you possibly say to alleviate a person's state of undergoing pain?

Though distressed, I was blessed to have a very strong support system in Rudy Dolosa and Dante Hermogenes, my pillars of strength in those trying times. Only the three of us knew about Nonoy's condition at that time, and in deference to his family's request, we kept the matter to ourselves. The three of us would update each other regularly about Nonoy's condition and I couldn't help but be emotional whenever I talk to both of them, in the same way that I could also feel the anguish in their voice and words.

We also got in touch constantly with Nonoy individually to console him. Dante would talk to him everyday. I tried to be strong whenever I talk to him so he would not feel that I was breaking down inside. When he said he had given up on getting healed, I told him not to lose hope, trust God and believe that miracles are real.

He had already accepted his fate such that it came to a point when he no longer requested for healing prayers, but just prayers to alleviate his pain.

Nonoy is a man of unwavering faith and had been very active in a Catholic charismatic ministry when he was still based in the U.S., not to mention the years he spent in the seminary.

In one of our conversations, he recounted that he had already been administered with the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, and in the same occasion his priest friends who were his former classmates at the seminary held a " mass for the dead " for him even if he was still alive. His family also held a " wake for the living " for him so he could listen to the testimonies accorded to him, since they believe it would be useless to pay homage after he is gone because he won't be able to hear them anymore. He in turn responded to what his daughter poignantly referred to as " a dying man's last lecture on life " to his family.

A couple of days before he passed on, I asked how he was as I customarily do, and he replied " I'm still walking in the Valley of Death ". I tried to console and remind him again that God answers prayers. It is very difficult to choose the right words to say to someone going thru a very difficult situation. Little did I know that it would be the last time I would get to talk to him.

People say it is easier to accept death if you are aware that it is bound to happen soon. I however believe there is no such thing as being ready because when it happens the grief and pain have the same considerable impact on you.

Farewell for now, Noy. May the love and mercy of our Lord be with you. ln behalf of our Accounting family, thank you for the memories and most especially the friendship. We will miss you but for the time being only, because one day we will all be together once more.

May you rest in peace, as memories of you live on.