This
bespectacled senior usually rides on his old-fashioned mountain bike donning a
black short-brimmed cap and his colored polo meticulously tucked into his
checkered walking shorts complete with black leather belt. There are also days
when you see him playing chess under the talisay
tree near the San Jose Water District Office adjacent to the town plaza.
But
that was before COVID-19 contaminated the whole of humanity.
The
coronavirus epidemic is not going to have its swansong any time soon. Just like
everybody else, this grandpa stayed home either watching television, keeping
himself busy with his smartphone, reading pocket books or solving crossword
puzzles. He lives with his daughter Marites, granddaughter Thea, 8, and Mikmik,
his adopted daughter, in a prominent subdivision in town.
“Mikmik”
is Mae Ancheta Corpuz who is not in any way related to their blood line but he
financed her schooling since her 2nd year in high school and
eventually took up her Caregiver Course at CINI, San Jose. The ole good fellow
says, “I take pride in having extended
her the assistance she needed with the end view of helping her family and
siblings without expecting anything in return.” He stressed further that, “Mikmik’s being compassionate earned my
respect and will hopefully continue to be of help to her to attain her
aspirations in life.”
Our
guy loves mental exercises since he was a boy. He believes that if you exercise
your brain, you enhance connective tissue between the neurons in your brain to
help them function better and faster.
“I started playing chess
since my college days. I was the Third Board of MIT chess team joining
inter-collegiate tournaments then,” says the old man in reminiscence. Nostalgically he
told me too that in their varsity team, the top gun was Rolando Magno, a long-
time friend who eventually went to the US upon graduation from Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) as a reward
for topping the chess tournament sponsored by the Manila Times that time.
His
childhood buddy, Medardo Tan Cardoso is the younger brother of Rodolfo Tan
Cardoso. The elder Cardoso is the first Filipino and Asian to earn an International
Master title in chess. Rodolfo is to be remembered as the only Filipino to have
beaten American wizard Bobby Fischer, Leto’s all-time favorite, via 1957 chess
face-off sponsored by Pepsi-Cola. Fischer was 14 then and Cardoso, 19. Cardoso
won one game and drew two games against Fischer. Chess for our man of the hour is the
ultimate mental exercise.
Retired
engineer Leto E. Nicanor, now 81 years old, came to San Jose in February 25,
1965 barely a year after he finished his course at MIT and landed on the top three in the board examination for
electrical engineers that year (1964). He worked for 14 years at the Salt
Industry of the Philippines and moved as power plant superintendent for the
Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (OMECO), as facilities engineer at
Filipinas Aquaculture Corporation and later joined the then newly-established
Island Power Corporation (IPC) as plant manager. In 1996, he was hired by the
AA Aqua Agri Corporation in Ormoc City as consultant.
Engineer
Nicanor was born in Manila on December 13, 1939 and had his schooling thereat
since his 4th grade in Mabini Elementary School in Quiapo and he has the
pedigree of military officers. His father Pedro was an army major during World
War-II while his uncle Antonino Nicanor was ranked lieutenant colonel also in
the army.
Leto’s
mother, the former Trinidad Evangelista- Español is niece of Lt. Col. Jose N. Evangelista,
erstwhile superintendent of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) and proprietor
of the now-defunct Zig-Zag Hotel also in Baguio City.
Leto’s
son, Col. Eric E. Nicanor, is with Philippine Marine Corps and member of PMA
Class ‘91 now hopefully waiting to earn his star rank before his retirement at
age 56. Engineer Nicanor’s youngest, Ms. Marites Nicanor-Francisco, is a
teacher like her mother assigned in San Jose Pilot Elementary School (SJPES), the
same school where her mother was formerly posted.
Leto
wed a public school teacher named Milagros Espinas, daughter of Bindoy and
Maric Espinas, on November 5, 1965. Milagros was then a classroom teacher at San
Jose Pilot School. Mila (or Lagring) was born June 6, 1941. My Tito Caloy
(Novio) and my Uncle Tito (Ernesto Zausa) were among his groomsmen when he
exchanged vows with his young and beautiful bride, Lagring. She, who already a
retired teacher then, succumbed to heart attack in July 25, 2010. “Nang pumanaw ang aking asawa ay nag-lie low
ako sa paglalaro (ng chess) dahil sa pag-aalaga ko sa aking apo,” he told
this blogger.
Thea,
unlike many young girls of her age, must be so grateful and thankful having her
brainy lolo near her in this anxious
epoch of a fracas in a pandemonium…
---------
References:
Stories of 100 Families; Rodolfo M. Acebes;
pp. 448-452; 2010
Photo: From the Facebook account of Leto
Nicanor showing him, Mikmik and Thea.
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