Thursday, March 6, 2014

I Hear A Symphony

Our cousin, Koya Ditos, Leonardo Bautista Capati, 68 years old, died suddenly after a heart attack, just a few days after his son's wedding.  He was one of our beloved older first cousins,  amongst 52 of us.

My brother Chto's tribute:

"I Hear A Symphony"

As a frail kid regularly visiting Ugac Sur, a then remote barangay West of the Tuguegarao town center in the late 60’s, I’ve been exposed to two generations of cousins, the young elementary  students and the high schoolers. 

There was a wide age and lifestyle gap between us and the next generation. 

We, grouped with K. Guy, K. Pong, K. Tony were in shorts, sando and slippers playing touch games at Gonzaga st. while they in shirts, listening to music and riding bicycles. 

The elderly ones which I considered as “untouchables” were Kuya Bing, Ate Lorni, sometimes Kuya Lito or in rare moments Kuya Pet and Kuya Ditos. I would remember they ran the show and controlled almost all activities in the street. (It was different in the Ugac household as it was Tata Paul who prevailed at all times.)

They played games (basketball), gambled (mahjong and card games), fired guns (long and short arms). They’ve been to places we were not allowed to go-farm, riverside, old churches and the ultimate, travel to Manila.

Their group led by Kuya Ditos imprinted in my memory as my 1st parents and dear Uncles and Aunties. Kuya Ditos was a natural leader because he had influence and narrated stories and anecdotes well. 

He was closest to his parents, Tata Paul and Tita Aming, the tallest and maybe the biggest (K. Enteng was not in the circle) and the oldest (as K. Lito was always not around). 

He had savvy. He operated an Akai open reel  adult role models, next to tape recorder which repeatedly played Supremes Hit with Diana Ross as lead singer. During Christmas Holidays, “Baby Love, I Hear a Symphony, Where did our Love Go, Stop in the Name of Love would be in the loop non-stop while they played mahjong or poker. His player would only stop when there was a brownout which was frequent those days or the power voltage was too low, Tata Paul’s step up transformer could not handle the load.

He liked to boogie. Public dances were events in the small town. K. Ditos would take the center stage to show off his graceful dancing prowess when Boogie is played with his stiff and bended elbow clutching the most popular girls in town. He was a cousin who could upstage his Uncles as he would be allowed to share the dance floor with Tata Nono and Tata Sal who were equally magnificent dancers.

He bluffed well commanding authority at the poker table. Betting against hard core gamblers as K. Lito, K. Bing, Tata Sal, Tata Noy, he was no push over. 

He was mischievous, perhaps an impact of his high school Jesuit education and the influence of his cousins. Articulate, he would express what he meant. Whenever the Supremes plays “You keep me hanging on” he would make a point about it.

When most of the families moved to Metro Manila, our encounters were less frequent limited only to the annual New Year’s Eve party hosted by his parents in BF Homes in Las Pinas. As in Ugac, our coalition roamed around the village watching basketball, firing lantacas, watching performances at the open courts while his age groups were enclosed in a room playing cards, eating and enjoying the gathering. 

As priorities changed, encounters were less often. Like everybody else going through the cycle of life, he worked, raised a family and eventually migrated to Indonesia. I eventually lost track of the music he liked, the games that he played and the company that he kept. What I know of is he continued to lead an enjoyable lifestyle combining travel, sports, photography events and lately social networking.

All of these are perceptions of a junior lad, looking up to a senior.

But beneath the lifestyle, love for life, the savvy, trail blazing and financial successes, I remember K. Ditos as a loving son, devoted to his family, respectful to Uncles and Aunties and a dear cousin to the 52 of us. These values plus my Ugac Sur experiences are what I cherish most about him.

“I hear a symphony,” a song of the Supremes perhaps describes his influence to us, the then younger ones. “For a feeling that's so new So inviting, so exciting Whenever you're near, I hear a symphony.” 

Thank you, Koya.

Some stories recalled during Pong’s visit in Manila last 2013.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T9SEY8eLyk&feature=kp"