Pidyong
is the neighborhood’s most sought-after errand boy then and before his death. Everybody
from all walks of life in old San Jose distinguishes the man. Well, every
famous individual deserves a eulogy.
A
regular feature in every nook of Barangay 6, he was a mysterious man. So visible and yet only few knows his personal
details. We do not know who and where are his biological parents or, did he just
popped out of a wine bottle like a genie and live among us?
Pidyong
cleans the mess in the neighborhood for a dime or two or a plate of food or a
packet of snacks. He is everybody’s general factotum. He wakes up early in the
morning to ask for a cup of strong coffee before he face another grind of the day. He
cleans for a living but he seldom clean himself. He sleeps everywhere each time
he is dead drunk, with his murky clothes, dirt-filled slippers and alcohol and
tobacco smelling breath. He, to those who travelled with him in this life, even
those who died ahead of him and those who are still living, are endeared by
him. He may have forgotten his parents but not her elementary grade classmates.
All of them. I tell you, Pidyong is not your typical village bum. His smile and grin are equally mysterious but real. He always talk nonsense from his mind but his laughter is sincere. Unlike many of us.
Pidyong is not only the favorite task boy of San Jose. He
is the San Jose of yore. He witnessed how this humble little town of our birth became
what it is today. Perhaps he also wept with the victims of the Roda Gasoline Station's burning in May 24, 1985. Who knows, maybe in his teens,
he also lamented with the families of prominent residents, 26 of them, who died
on that fatal Philippine Airlines’ DC3 Flight No. 785 crash happened in June
29, 1966. In our every success as a community, Pidyong celebrates with us, possibly,
over swigs of gin and clouds of cigarette smoke. He is with us, as a community,
in our ups and downs, as a bodyguard, helper, chaperone, rolled into one.
His elementary classmate Asuncion “Ciony” Pabellano (nee
Rodil) remember him as lonely pupil going to San Jose Pilot Elementary School
donning an immaculate white and neatly-ironed polo. His mother is good at washing
and keeping clothes clean, says Ate Ciony. He is often bullied by some of their
classmates because of his not so normal mental state.
He was one of the few men who calls the congresswoman by his
first name though he always misprounounces it. The lady solon, Pidyong’s classmate in elementary grade,
reportedly shouldered financial burdens when her childhood friend was
hospitalized and even beyond that. He was a chain smoker and a heavy drinker so
what one would expect?
Elpidio “Pidyong” Tenoco passed away 19th of
December, 2019 and his remains lies at St. Peter Chapel in Barangay 6, San
Jose, Occidental Mindoro and scheduled to be interred on Monday, December 23,
2019.
We do not know exactly his age, or any concrete facts about
him at all. None of us could say about his family origins but it does not
matter, our collective origins were partly his. He likes to tell stories about his classmates. Telling stories about its people is one of the best ways to show that we are proud of our hometown. Actually, no one greatly miss his or her hometown more than its people especially when somebody is gone.
Only one thing is important: he lived among us till his final
breath. He once touched our lives. We have lasting memories about him.
Be free from handyman’s job and be at peace with your True
Master in your final, eternal home, Pidyong.
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(Photo from Ciony Pabellano’s Facebook Account)
