A Tribute To Benjamin Santos,Sr. , A Friend and A Godfather

A Tribute to Benjamin Santos, Sr., A Friend, and a Godfather.

Dear friends on our stay as members
Our journey is only a dream
For we are dead in our slumbers
But we are alive as a team.

At North Francisco, we all met
Nurses, dentists, lawyers, priest
The North, West, South without retreat
And we are one. That we insist.

We work in joy and in sorrow
To fulfill each one's destiny
And to write our own tomorrow
Whatever will be, it will be.

Time is fleeting not our yearning
We are in the land of the brave
And alive our hearts are beating
We pray for a friend on his grave.

Lives of those who left remind us
That Life is precious and sublime
That we must depart not to rush
Leave footmarks on the road of Time.

Let us, then,  be firm in praying
In our hearts with love not hate
Still hoping and still believing
That this is our cherished Fate.

(N.B.)  This poem is a glimpse of our mid-seventies arrival as immigrants in the United States for a greener pasture and a breath of fresh air from the ashes of Martial Law. We landed on North Francisco Avenue near the Norwegian-American Hospital and the Humboldt Park area which is between North Avenue to the North and Chicago Street to the South. This was memorable and remarkable as nurses, dentists, doctors, accountants, teachers, lawyers, and engineers huddled together in the coldness of the Windy City to form a bond of friendship and a compact of professionalism sans hubris in a newfound frontier.  These immigrants were the true daring Filipinos of The Silent Generation and the Baby Boomers coming from the North of the largest island of Luzon, the West of the Visayan islands, and the South of the second largest island called Mindanao. These professionals were from a sovereign country of more than 7,000 islands, the Pearl of the Orient Sea better known as the Philippines named after King Philipp of Spain. Spain colonized the Philippines for more than 300 years, brought the Catholic religion, built churches, cathedrals, and parochial religious schools; while America stayed for over 50 years with its Torch of Education, the Protestant religion, and the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.

Our beloved friend Benjamin Santos, Sr. who is a godfather to my eldest son. is a lawyer and a Fiscal of Cotabato. However, he is from Zamboanga City, a Zamboanga A.E. College law graduate but practiced his law profession in Cotabato where his brother, a Zamboanga Normal College graduate occupied a prominent position in the public schools. In the twist of circumstance, he found a Florence Nightingale, a practicing nurse, and a graduate of the Philippine General Hospital School of Nursing in Manila, who eventually became his best half. Pare' Ben is a man with a good heart and helping hands. He had helped us several times when my car broke down and when somebody attempted to rob me as I approached to park in my garage, he sent his guys to my succor.

And his family is a lighthouse in times of distress.

Pare' Ben, rest in peace, and may perpetual light shine upon you!

( By: Greg Intas Caponong Alcala Trabanca)