Remembering our Karina
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
NOVEMBER 1 is a date that has become sacred to our family.
It is the date when our youngest sibling, Karina, died. She drowned off the Tondaligan Beach in Dagupan on November 1, 1963.
Know that as our mother, Paulita, revealed she overheard Karina telling a friend in a phone conversation: “The best day to die would be on the first day of November because it is the First Friday and also All Saints’ Day… and the next day is the First Saturday.
And my father, Ermin Sr., kept a piece that Karina dictated over the telephone a day before her death, written down by a bosom friend and classmate. It read:
“The day when I died.”
“It was November first when I was suffering with aches, twelve o’clock and no word came out of my mouth. I fell into the hands of my mother who was watching me the whole night without sleep. She knows I am dead. And she called for my sisters and brother. My school was innocent about my death until the phone rang and announced my death. It was a big shock for them.”
My father’s deep grief over her departure manifested itself in his November 6, 1963 open ‘love letter’ to Karina (6 days after her death, and one day before her birthday.)
He wrote: “It was twelve o’clock of November first—the First Friday and All Saints’ Day—when I jumped out from my car in company with two doctors and two loyal co-workers in the office to rush to your succor at the beach. And you had just expired then. To this day I remain sane after those frenzied moments and hours of shocked lunacy, I attribute to your kind prayers for me.
“And as you had predicted, your school (the Sisters) did not know of your death until their phone rang and your sisters and your brother tumbled through their tears the announcement of your death. And I am certain it was a shock to them. You see, it was a shock to me too.
“This evening on the arrival of your loving brother from Baguio, he handed to me a letter from his Father class adviser at the St. Louis University.
“The coincidence of similarity between his letter and the piece you dictated over the phone on the eve of your departure is poignantly but significantly striking. The letter said, “…She went on All Saints’ Day—heaven was open and she took the best occasion to enter. Please look with faith upon your grief because from heaven she will be able to send more graces than ever….”
“Although for reasons of your own, you kept it back from me, you repeatedly expressed your dream to be a writer. Now that joyous wish will always remain a dream, for me as well as for you. And this adds to my anguish because I know you would have done great credit to a discredited profession. I felt it in the icy printer’s ink that passes for blood in my hardened veins that with your spunk and intellectual endowments, you would be a great newspaperwoman.
“Yes, all that is gone. But, if it is a consolation to you as it is to me, you have become something more important. You are and will always be the Muse of him whom you singled out in your scrapbook as “my favorite and greatest columnist.”
I invite our readers to pray for her…and pray to her on November 1.
(The book titled “ERMIN AND KARINA” was written by the late ArsenIo C. Jesena , SJ. He came to Dagupan in 1965 initially to interview my father and the rest of us about the life of Karina. But before he could publish his book “KARINA”, my father was killed in May 20, 1966. Hence the book was retitled “ERMIN AND KARINA”).
* * * *
TEST OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY. Now that the die has been cast, meaning individuals have come forward presenting themselves as candidates for specific positions they are vying for, we can begin to test how far they are willing to be accountable and transparent in their posts should they win.
In the gubernatorial race:
- Will Guv Mon-mon Guico finally explain how he, Vice Guv Mark, the provincial board members and their spouses managed to travel to the USA as a group when the provincial budget did not have such travel items? And who sponsored the trip of the department heads to Japan for a week’s pleasure trip?
- Will ex-Guv Pogi Espino seek to unearth who and how those two “unofficial” group trips were made possible?
In the Dagupan City mayoralty race:
- Will Mayor Belen Fernandez finally file the administrative and criminal cases against those involved in irregular activities during the administration of ex-Mayor Brian Lim, like she pledged she would?
- Will Councilor Celia Lim obstruct and discontinue programs launched by her predecessor? Will she file cases against councilors who will block passage of the city’s annual and supplementary budgets?
In the Second Congressional District race:
- Will Cong. Mark Cojuangco pursue his plan to demolish illegal residential and commercial establishments in the Lingayen-Binmaley Baywalk.
- Will Mayor Pol Bataoil block Cong. Cojuangco’s plans in Baywalk areas.
In the Fourth District Congressional race:
- Will ex-Cong Gina de Venecia support the move to finally ban political dynasty?
- Will ex-VM Alvin Fernandez support the move to finally ban political dynasty?
* * * *
“UN-FILIPINO” SARA. The political detractors of the Duterte administration were suddenly outraged by the “inappropriate, un-Filipino” response of VP Sara Duterte to the series of attacks and mudslinging thrown her way.
Surely, they didn’t expect a docile, submissive response after the unrelenting bashing she was getting from their side. But neither were they expected to be so arrogant themselves in their bashing of the vice president, a situation quite unprecedented, completely disrespectful towards the country’s vice president.
She wanted them to stop. She tried to be respectful in her response to the allegations of corruption by directing them to the Commission on Audit that engaged her with same questions office. But no, they were not really concerned about how COA evaluated her accounts but to discredit whatever explanations she had.
Then they were even fazed by Sen. Imee Marcos’ cold reaction to the situation. Apparently, the presidential sister felt it was par for the course because her friend, VP Sara, had felt she had no choice but to dish out what should stop them. After that “inappropriate” response, her detractors, led by Speaker Martin Romualdez, now realize it’s no-holds-barred from hereon.
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