TODAY marks the 17th death anniversary of Enrique Zobel, at one time the chairman and president of Ayala Corporation, chair of Bank of the Philippine Islands, vice chairman of San Miguel Corporation, and even barangay captain of Barangay Ayala Alabang. Because of the latter, he always joked that he had more “qualifications” for higher public office than many men and women we elect today.
In a way he was correct.
I last saw EZ alive in his room at Asian Hospital on May 11, a day after I voted in the presidential elections of 2004. I showed him my marked index finger and he asked me who I voted for. Feigning shock, I said I won’t reveal that because it was a secret ballot and, after we had a laugh, I told him anyway.
He passed away six days later; I was at the EDSA Shang-rila attending a company event when I got a call requesting me to drop by his house in Ayala Alabang. It was then that I was told he had left a five-point note of “last requests,” one of which was that I speak during his funeral mass at the Forbes Park church. I remember that moment distinctly: when my name was called by the officiating priest I am sure not a few people in the crowd – the country’s Who’s Who, mind you – were wondering “who’s that?” And that’s when I realized that on the day I was supposed to be honoring EZ, he was in fact honoring me, too.
That I am flooded with memories of my 16 years of collaborating with him every May 17 no longer surprises me. And if I repeat myself like a broken record this day of every year I ask for the reader’s indulgence. (Then again you need to be a regular reader of this space to notice that, and I think when my father passed away in 2016 I lost my last regular reader!)
But today, also in the spirit of gratitude, I’d like to cite a few others, new to my list because they have been instrumental in helping me survive my COVID-19 scare.
‘These doctors and health care
workers are my latest ‘angels’
and it is therefore through this
public way that I wish them
to know how grateful I am.’
First off are the doctors of St. Lukes-BGC who took charge of specific aspects of my case. Dr. Anne Estrella was in charge of pulmo, and remains in charge of my post-release follow-ups to make sure the last traces of COVID-19 are eliminated from my respiratory system. She particularly remembers me as the patient in the ER who asked if he could be sedated for the CT scan; that’s because I wasn’t aware then that a CT scan machine was not like the tube used in the MRI procedure into which you are inserted and from which all these clanging noises could be heard. I now know better and in fact have become a CT scan regular!
Dr. Mario Panaligan of infectious diseases made sure COVID-19 did not overwhelm my systems; Dr. Francisco Lopez (Hematology) and Dr Evan Vista (Rheumatology) monitored how my body was responding to the treatments being given intravenously or orally.
The nurses were outstanding, too. My list of nicknames include Darwin, Rose, Nikki, Geoseph, Kevin, Champ, Raul, Kim — the first one being the (sadly) only one I can remember from ER, and the seven nurses who attended to me on the 11th floor. I can only imagine how life has been like for them since March 2020 and I suspect they are never thanked enough for all that they do to make life a little bit more livable for COVID-19 patients like me (as well as those suffering other ailments.)
And because my mother was a nurse (and a professor of nursing at that), I have a special sense of gratitude for these “successors” of Florence Nightingale.
Finally, I want to thank my “new friends” from the CT scan department of St. Luke’s of which I am becoming a “suki” — though hopefully my July appointment will be my last! Thanks to “veteran” Ed Allen Peganon and to Dhemson Limsic, both registered nurses; and to RRTs Juan Miguel (JM) Cajanding, Bryan Astillo and the friendly Rodel Agbunag, who assisted me in undergoing follow-up CTPA scanning. My only suggestion is that the generic imagery of coconut trees and a blue sky on the ceiling of the room that a CT scan patient sees should be changed to maybe Boracay!
In each of our lives, beyond our normal circle of family and friends, there are people who for one reason or another become a significant player at a significant moment. These doctors and health care workers are my latest “angels” and it is therefore through this public way that I wish them to know how grateful I am.
Just as I always want EZ to “know” that except for last year, I have not missed a May 17 in keeping my promise to visit him at his final resting place, just my way of saying “thank you.”
