Already in his prime, Eli still wince, a bit modestly, whenever he is addressed ‘Engineer’ by his subordinates in KEPHILCO, a South Korean firm engaged in power generation with its plant in Bo. Malaya, Pililia, Rizal. Naturally unassuming and kindhearted, Eli knows that titles alone ‘do not a man make’ and he has no intention of using his profession to indulge in any ego-tripping relationship with his people.
No matter that it took him 14 years risking his life and swallowing his pride and honor to earn it.
The third out of eight children of poor parents in Malaya, Pililia, Rizal, Eli graduated in High School thru the help of his auntie Dolores, the unmarried sister of his mother who treated him as her “anak-anakan”. A proud member of high school Class ’64 at the SIC, he immediately enrolled, with high hopes for a Pre-med course in FEU. He lasted for only one semester. The expenses, he learned later was daunting and he transferred to UE shifting to a BSBA course. Again, he had to stop after finishing only 18 units seeing his auntie, a local ‘hilipt’, grovel under the weight of his educational needs.
For one and a half years, he labored in the farm saving what little money he can, intent on going back to school. With his meager savings, he enrolled at the Amang Rodriguez Vocational School for a course in Automotive, Diesel-Mechanic. Two years later, he graduated and armed with his diploma, he looked for a job and luckily was taken in as foundry man in the Engineering Equipment, Inc. one of the leading engineering companies in the country. Encouraged, he enrolled for a Mechanical Engineering course in Manuel L. Quezon University taking only a few evening subjects that he can manage, Pushing his luck, he transferred to PECO, a Meralco subsidiary, starting out as a Fabricator and Lay-out man. In only a few years, he was transferred to MERALCO, the biggest power distributor in the Philippines, where he worked as Auxiliary Equipment Operator.
His salary, nonetheless, was still insufficient to enable him to rent a room and sustain his educational needs and, shuffling from work to school, it became necessary for him to avail of his uncle’s roomy house in Nagtahan, Sampaloc, Manila. He was given a small room in consideration of his working as an “atsoy,” serving nine (9) growing-up children who treated him as such. He cooked their meals, cleaned the house, bought daily provisions from the market, and, on most occasions, even did their laundry,.
“Beggars cannot be choosers,” he told himself, and Eli manfully endured the indignities from his own “relatives’. His sufferings however, ended so abruptly like a page from telenovela.
Doggedly tired from his strenuous job at the Meralco, he attended his night class that evening almost half-sleeping during the entire course of the lecture. After class, he had barely entered his room at his uncle’s house determined to skip meals and bed early, when he was summoned to buy a dozen eggs at a nearby sari-sari store. As he did so, on his way home, he tripped, causing all the eggs to fall on the concrete pavement and broke. The rage that greeted his confession, the hard slap on his face that made him see twinkling stars, was the last straw and Eli, with a mixture of fear and self-pity, hurriedly left the house vowing never to return. He never did. In 1978, exactly 14 years from his high school graduation, he finished his Mechanical Engineering course. Failing in his first try, he took the board for Associate Electrical Engineer, a converted course, and passed it. A registered Electrical Engineer, Eli presently holds the position of Operation Principal -C, a supervisory position at KEPHILCO, a firm which generates and supplies electrical power, not only in Rizal, but the entire Tagalog region!
Time, an ever-faithful ally, had, long ago, healed the wounds that time itself created during his struggling years. His own cousins, now married with their own children, come to him – as relatives normally do – as if the unpleasant past that placed them apart never existed. He can look back at it now only with wisdom and gratitude. Those hard years had equipped him with a steel determination to prod on and the ensuing success appears like a promised ‘oasis’ he had longed for.
Today, Eli has become a big brother to his unfortunate kins so long denied of the comforts and luxuries that ambition, grit, and an unyielding determination shower edonly to those brave enough to dare. Eli married his barrio mate, Mercedita Bellido, on June 20, 1970 and their union was blessed with four (4) children, all girls, namely Irene, the eldest who is already married; Lailani, a registered nurse, who is likewise, already married; Edenita, a Chemical Engineer, who is still single, and Maria Eloisa, the youngest, who married early and provided them their beloved ‘apos’ named Sofia and Ralph Recto.
Eli has that easy smile, somehow camouflaging the inferiority complex that, admittedly, haunts him like a benign shadow. His modest, almost docile, behavior is a trademark that harked back to our high school years when, as a true gentleman, he acted like one who can never inflict pain. Humility, of course, can never equate to weakness. Real courage is visible only in times of crisis and Eli, by his lonesome, has proven himself worthy of his laurels. That he has turned his back on vengeance as an old score’ makes him even more deserving. By his inborn goodness, he made us all proud! At the end of the interview, Eli again sounded apologetic, forgetting that it was I, in the company of Lito Vista, who deserved to make amends for disturbing his rest day on that dreary Sunday afternoon…
NOTE: “Shooting Star” is part of the book “FOOTPRINTS, Class ’64” written by Atty. Amadeo R. Fulgado, published in 2005.
