JERRY MALABRIGO: A MAN TRANSFORMED Remembering the man on the 3rd anniversary of his death By Jesse Reyes Jerry Malabrigo’s sudden demise on Sept. 30, 2011 shocked his wife, Annie and other loved ones and his many friends all over the United States and in the Philippines. He was a man who was never really “sick” except for an occasional cold or flu. Two days after he was diagnosed to have acute leukemia, he breathed his last. I was one of the last three people to have talked to him at the hospital about 2 hours before he expired. He was in relatively good spirits, even joking with me, Ed Basit and Henry DeLeon. We had just had our men’s chorus practice in church a couple of hours before, when we decided to visit him at the hospital. He told us he was being visited by several specialists including a hematologist, an oncologist, a cardiologist, a nephrologist and Adventist…lol. We teased him that he would not be able to sing with the men’s chorus the next day because he had missed the practice. He jokingly told Ed that he would get a special pass from the hospital and all he needed was to see one note and that was what he’d sing…lol. Jerry touched the lives of many, including mine. His presence was felt and welcomed in every event whether it be parties, church activities and PAASDA/MAFASDA spiritual retreats or weddings and funerals. He was active both in the church and in the school (HAA). He was the life of every party or occasion, never running out of humor and jokes and was, with his wife, Annie, a sponsor in many weddings. He was always ready to lend a friendly advice to the young and the not-so-young, settle disputes, or give someone a massage or “hilot”. He had the amazing ability to talk to anyone, regardless of his/her age and was particularly popular among teenagers and yuppies. He had an incredible memory. For example, a couple of weeks before his demise, we had a get-together at my home. He told the story of his romance with Annie, now his wife, when he surprised her by being at the airport in Manila when she first came home from the U.S. He remembered every detail—including the color of the dress Annie was wearing that day. His knowledge was encyclopedic. He would tell detailed stories of his life that happened 30 or 40 years ago. I was in my late elementary grades or early high school in PUC in Baesa when I first knew of and met Jerry. His image then especially to PUCians like me was not so good. He was regarded as a hoodlum, a gangster or tough guy (called “siga” in the vernacular) in Baesa. Oftentimes when school was over for the day, as we marched out of the PUC gate, he would be standing in front of the gate outside Mr. Campomanes store, “drunk as a rat” and would throw up in front of all the students. One time a couple of friends and I went to a gambling joint called “sakla” just for “curiosity’s sake”…lol and Jerry was there, smokinf, talking loudly and demanding a “tong” from anybody who would win big. Jerry apparently had graduated in high school in PUCA and then went to college in an outside university. While studying there, he befriended politicians, lawyers and fugitives from the law, becoming restless as a result and deciding to quit school. He wasted many years of his youth and his talents in worldly pleasures, including “wine, women and song,”, gambling, smoking and hung out with people of ill-repute, getting into fights and often getting drunk. His mother would just pray for him and hoped that someday her son would change. One of the highlights of Jerry’s life was his meeting Annie Apostol, a nurse at the then Manila Sanitarium and Hospital (MSH) and roommate of Miriam, Jerry’s sister. Miriam and Jerry’s parents saw the virtues of Annie. Jerry fell in love with Annie and soon the romance blossomed, although Annie told Jerry she wouldn’t marry him if he didn’t straighten up and change his lifestyle. Because of his love for Annie, he slowly but surely gave up his life in the fast lane and became a sound and sober man. Annie then agreed to marry him and they exchanged marriage vows on Jan. 17, 1973. The next time I saw Jerry was in 1989, when we moved to Chicago. I became a member of the Hinsdale Fil-am SDA Church and was amazed at seeing Jerry, a different man from what I had known him to be in Baesa some 30 years before. He was a changed man, always clean-cut and dignified, an elder in our church, preaching a sermon every now and then, teaching in Sabbath school and now a high-ranking employee at Hinsdale Hospital. Several factors brought about the transformation to Jerry Malabrigo’s life. God had wrought a change in his heart and sent Annie into his life—she insisted that he should change his lifestyle before she would marry him. Jerry’s mother’s prayers and constant hope that he would one day change his life, looms large. His education in PUC early in his life was, in my mind, a big factor as well. Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Note - Excerpts of this tribute were gleaned from a Life Sketch written and edited by Elizabeth DeLeon, Bing Alabata and Emmanuel Montinola, printed in the program of the memorial service for Jerry Malabrigo on Oct.7, 2011 at Adolf Funeral Home. Written in Burr Ridge, IL on Sept. 30, 2014.
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 05:40:45 +0000
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