NOT everyone gets to watch his favorite PBA team play, and nobody gets visited by his favorite team for simply being a fan except when you are Pangasinan’s oldest living priest.

     And how the lucky can a fan feel?

     ”I can die now,” Monsignor Leon Bitanga, 92, said in jest feeling ecstatic when the entire Purefoods Chunkee Giants team visited him in his villa in Bonuan Gueset last October 20 before heading to a game in neighboring La Union province.

Msgr. Bitanga, who still celebrates Mass everyday and remains sharp of mind and memory, had his own surprise for the members of the team when he identified each one by their full names, including their coach, Ryan Gregorio.

He even commented that Gregorio looks boyish in person.

To reciprocate the team’s gesture, Msgr. Bitanga sang his favorite song “O Sole Mio” to the delight of the players.

Whenever the team wins, his parishioners have gotten used to his telling them during homily how happy he is about the victory.

Msgr. Bitanga, a certified Purefoods fanatic since its formation in the 1980s, named Alvin Patrimonio and Jojo Lastimosa as among the team’s best players.

He said Patrimonio was then his favorite but now it’s James Yap “because he married Kris (Aquino),” a television personality and daughter of former Philippine president Corazon Aquino.

Before the team left, they gave Msgr. Bitanga a white t-shirt signed by all the players and a white polo jacket that bore the name of the team. He blessed them in return.

In another development, after making Dagupan City his second home, the Sarrat, Ilocos Sur-born priest was made an adopted honorary son of Dagupan City in a resolution sponsored by Councilor Alex de Venecia.— EVA

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