Montevista – 50 years after

Saturday, the smallest community of Bacolod known as Barangay Montevista celebrated its 50 years of existence. Barangay Captain Rodolfo King refused to stay long at his hospital bed and sought permission to attend the tribute to former Montevista residents who had migrated outside the community.

City Mayor Evelio Leonardia called Montevista (Homesite) as the only barangay in the middle of a barangay.  It is actually surrounded by the more populous and wider span of Villamonte.

But he also said Montevista typifies how members of the middle class managed to help liberate the stranglehold of city politics from the elite.  It was precisely that same theme in his first campaign for the mayoralty race, Leonardia said to his cheering audience.

Mrs. E. Baliguas-Manahan opened the program, which was featured primarily by the awarding for distinguished former Montevista residents. Of course, there were more than a hundred that was the idea of my ahijado, Edwin Gatia, who has gained from abroad as an astronomer, etc, and a scientist.

Betty Pabulayan and Gene Drilon gamely struggled with the role of presenters of the awardees.  Betty is the spouse of Bert Pabulayan, the first councilor of Rudy King.

The affair was held at the Montevista covered court.  Now it is an impressive structure but will soon be improved if the Barangay council can raise the funds for the improvement.

Amazingly, I was astounded by the “big names” of former Montevista residents.  There were outstanding characters.  But the most popular was Ricardo Yanzon and his wife Olivia who started out with two jeepneys plying Bacolod-Valladolid route and have now become the country’s biggest land transport czar.  Then there was also Mr. and Mrs. Norman Jocana who built over the years their money remittance network plus hotel to boot.

Then there was also a posthumous award to former Vice Mayor Inocencio Lucasan who never lost an election for councilor of Bacolod City.

Of course, who can forget the stormy peril of Bacolod, the former journalist and politico Bert Drilon.  And also an equally – charismatic Wilmar Drilon, former vice mayor.

Of course, one cannot overlook Councilor Sonya Verdeflor.

The Cabalaquinto brothers who became generals of both the PNP and the AFP.

One of the most applauded awardee was Mr. Cecilia del Castillo-Lopez, the founder of the fabled Jack and Jill School that has branched out to other areas of the city.

I consider Cecile as the “ideal wife”.  That is something which I may write about later.

But the most touching so far as I was concerned, was the posthumous award for the late Primo Esleyer, my bosom friend and co-member of the Christian Family Movement Unit II of Montevista.

I really missed him.  But at the same time, when his daughter Bambi, received his award, memories of how we had struggled long and hard  to give birth to the Reach Drug Abuse Foundation Inc. came back. That was further reinforced by the same award for the late Councilor Constancio Legaspi, which Mally received for her husband.

That, per se, was a saga which needs to be written about.  A real and significant chapter in the history of Montevista.

It was during Martial Law when Primo and I discovered that the PC anti-Narcotics unit assigned to Montevista was the principal source of drugs for barangay youngsters.

Barangay Captain Teddy Miraflores, also an awardee, joined hands with us in exposing the PC contingent.  It was the extortion attempt by the PC agents to get money from a former radio man that prodded us to dare the martial law regime.

Luckily, we found a sympathetic ear from the former Mayor Digoy Montalvo. We made representations with then Philsucom chairman Roberto  Benedicto.

Members of CFM 2 plus Bacolod Capitol Lions Club, the Barangay council and Rotarians led by Dr. Antonio Gauzon presented the problem posed by the PC unit contingent before RSB.

I know that RSB immediately phoned then PC Chief Fidel V. Ramos who ordered the reassignment of the contingent outside the province.

But the organization of REACH was hampered by bad luck and ignorance. When Mr. Gustilo, father of Fanny Gustilo, offered the use of their home in Taguig as rehabilitation center.  We found ourselves confronted by a picket of parents who denounced the presence of former drug addicts as a threat to the community.

Another problem was that the trainees we had sent to the DARE in Manila to undergo training in handling of former addicts to rehabilitate them invariably failed to pass the grade.

They considered it too rigorous and impossible for them to handle.  When a police officer, whom we had subsidized to undergo training, returned to Bacolod and threw in the towel.

Then, again the site for the rehab center.  It was Medy Garcia, wife of the Ramiro Garcia Sr., and mother of former Vice Mayor Ramiro Garcia, Jr. who said the Days of the Lord house in Sum-ag was to be vacated by them.

So, again, we approached Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich.  Fortich, with the help of Msgr. Vic Rivas, then vicar general, acceded to our request to convert the Days with the Lord into a rehab center.

Later, with the dedicated help of Tanciong Legaspi and Dr. Gauzon, the PDEA approved the Sum-ag project as the first Drug Abuse rehab center ever organized in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Now, over the years, hundreds of young people, including professionals and bankers of Negros Occidental and nearby provinces have been helped to return to normal life – liberated from drug dependence.

That’s why when I received the award Saturday night, these were the images that reminded me of our determined struggle to help free Homesite and Bacolod from drug dependency.  I really miss Primo and Tanciong.*

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