The Legacy of My Father: A Daughter's Eulogy

By: Evangeline Rueles Caermare Trabanca


"There is an appointed time for everything," goes the New American Bible," and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a  time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant..."

My father's time has arrived when the shadows totally disappeared from the face of the earth. It was seven in the evening when my father surrendered to a fully-lived life. And he has spent well his time, so that we, the living must appreciate the value of time. He has embraced the American time not the Filipino time. He never dilly-dallies.

My father had known that smoking was bad when as a young elementary pupil he was caught smoking and was punished. That incident made an indelible mark that proved to benefit him in his growing years. With that started the grain of discipline, obedience, honesty, and temperance that germinated into a purpose-driven life.

Teodorico Magallanes Caermare was born on that lovely first day of July, nineteen hundred and ten (07/01/1910) in Maralag, Polanco, Zamboanga del Norte. As a young man, he already saw the promise that the soil would bring. Instead of working in an office, or working with a company, he poised his vision to work in his own office, his own company, and with his own boss. And it was no bed of roses but thorns of struggles and sacrifices. Yet his attitude was different because he saw crowns, not thorns in his struggles. Then he fell in love with a woman and built a marital nest only to be uprooted by indifference and doubts. But he doubted not his heart as he saw a star in his gloomy nights.

He found a very young lady, " mutya sa buhat, salamin sa kakugi ug bililhon."  He made a vow to protect, defend and love her as long as the Patawag River flows. He married Agapita Bahao Rueles on June 16, 1934. In 1935, a baby boy was born coiled with an umbilical cord. Life was short-lived. In  1936, a girl has christened Esperanza which means hope but that hope's spark lasted only for thirteen years.

1940 - the year I was born. I was named after the sweetheart of Gabriel in the high school story - Evangeline, The Tale of Acadie. After the demise of my sister Esperanza, I became the eldest and the Evangelizer. True to my name, I promised to be a role model to my brother and sisters. The yoke of responsibility was now on my shoulders and I followed the star of my dream to be a Florence Nightingale. 1942 - Antonietta came followed by Arturo in 1944 but witnessed the world only by three years. Then another boy arrived. He was baptized Luisito but fondly nicknamed Boy. Then Elizabeth (Abeth), Lucila (Baby), and Ruelca (Inday)

My father at this point in his life vowed to do his level best and held on as four children were down in the playing field of life. He fully consecrated himself, so to speak, to God, to his family, to his neighbor. He cultivated and developed his land and his talent. While others spent their time on worldly fun and frolics, he happily busied himself on his land, on his family with the ever-guiding, ever-providing, and ever-thinking wife. He woke up before dawn appeared. And gleefully greeted the world as the rays of the sun broke through the hills and valleys of the countryside. He found the bluebird of happiness in the honest daily toil of his jungle land. He discovered joy as he watched his plants grow. And the land was his. With his time, talent, and treasure, he toiled this land under the aegis of stewardship. This land became his retirement treasure. He gave his share to the church, to his God of which he is but a steward and so are we all. And to his family.

For the sake of our Father, who is now at peace with God, let us siblings and those linked with us preserve this land which is our precious LEGACY. Let us renew our vows through thick and thin, in good times and in bad times to take good care of this our Land, and not abandoned it nor let transgressors trample it- so that our children and their children and the children of their children will have the pride to relate the story of a man who loved the soil, loved life and loved his family.

My father has a musical inclination. He made a violin out of a Kamagong (a tree with fine lumber) that was comparable to the world-famous Stradivarius violin made by Antonio Stradivarius of Cremona, Italy. He proudly tackled this violin with his favorite classical tunes during his break time, and on moonlight nights when he was home after a hard day's labor, or when loneliness visited his agrarian life. My father can also strum/play the ukelele (small guitar), the banjo, and the tenor. All were string instruments.

He has an entrepreneurial prowess too, In fact, he pioneered the Evinrude/Pinta pump boat-outdoor motor water transportation in the 50s when there were no roads yet connecting Labason to the neighboring municipalities of Liloy and Salug.  Excursion to Bayangan (Murceilagos) island was made possible by this mode of water transportation. It was also during those years that my father was involved in the fishing business (Baling-Sinsuro).  And my mother was always there to be his secretary, treasurer, consultant, and home provider.

And, in all these, my father was a strict disciplinarian and markedly honest. He always tells the truth even though it hurts. He never dodges or hides an issue. Time to him is precious as he was always on the precise time when he has an appointment. To him, what is true is right, and what is false should be condemned. What I can't forget about my father was his very beautiful cursive handwriting which is rare nowadays in our highly technical world.

As Father Thomas Merton said, "Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost because men are not prepared to receive them; for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity, and love."

As a farmer, a husband, and a provider- my father did not die he just fade away with his carabao, his outboard motor in a palm-silhouetted sunset.

On behalf of my brother, sisters-in-law, and relatives, I am grateful to all of you here. Your presence is highly appreciated in our moments of bereavement. Thank you very much!