A firmness of purpose

CEBU, Philippines - The day started right for then 18-year-old Cesario Munez. He had a good night’s sleep and the dawn broke with a promise there will always be better days. His parents, who gather coconut toddy and plant cassava in Cordova for sustenance, could not send him to school having to feed eight other children. So he has to work at a building of the Department of Education in Talamban. This way, he could meet the requirements of his general radio operator’s course.

As early as 4 a.m., he would report to his post to start the day right. “I have to clean six toilets aside from offices, and there were only two of us janitors, so by 4 a.m. I am already at the facility. I was one who planted rose bushes at a space on the facility’s lawn, so before the lady workers would arrive, I would stick a stem of rose on each of their vases as I know that would make them happy, and they would start the day with a smile,” he shared in an interview at his two-hectare development property in Consolacion recently.

He thought that at that office he would already be veering away from previous bitterness brought about by his exposure to construction work in Manila where he used to sleep on wood and use cement sacks for a blanket. It was during this stay in Manila that he was sexually abused by a “gay benefactor” who promised to send him to school but who only gave him food enough to survive the day.

However, heartaches would seem to pile up and hard to shoo away. He had to deal with the day right to be able to go to school at night. But one day, to his chagrin, a toilet bowl at a ladies’ comfort room ran out of order because somebody flushed a sanitary napkin. “Pastilan, bisan diay supervisors, it’s not a guarantee they would behave properly. Dako kaayo ang problema iyang gihatag nako. I wasn’t issued gloves, kahibalo na ka basta gobyerno, moingon dayon walay budget. I had to use my bare hands para kuoton ang mibara because no matter how hard I pumped the thing out, dili jud madala. Gipaningot na lang kog bugbog,” he now shared that particular experience with a laugh.

Somehow, incidents as such failed to dampen his spirit. He stood firm in his decision to finish school. “I told myself: time will come people will call me ‘sir’ too, and not me addressing them ‘sir’ forever,” he shared.

There was one time he felt bad about his superiors. Since he was a newbie in the office, he hadn’t had a single Christmas gift. “November man ko adto nag-start as a working student, so I had few acquaintances yet. Come Christmas season, I saw the other janitor coming in and out of offices with presents and the sight really pained me. Nakahilak gyod ko. Wa ko kapugong, nahiubos ko kay pait gyod diay kon wala kay kaila.”

Firm as the unwavering northern star, Cesar cleaned the hallways and comfort rooms in the next six years. He was determined to show that he can be trusted in his job to win the confidence of his superiors. One day, a superior called him up and instructed him to sign a few documents while this official was out on official travel. “I was a bit shaken because who am I to sign documents? But that boss of mine was frequently called up by the Manila office, so too many papers would be left behind idle on his table. Makuyawan ko nga makit-an sa mga tawo magpapirma dabbling between mopping the floor and affixing my signature on documents,” Munez recalled.

After that, another superior had to tailor-fit for him a Barong Tagalog. “He saw that I had this worn-out, overused shirt all the time, so ingon siya: Cesar, patahian tikag Barong ha kay lisod kaayo nga mopirma ka diha naka t-shirt lang. And so it happened that people started addressing me “Sir” and it gave me that tickling but very dignified feeling. I was very young then and I find it nindot kaayo if tinahod tas mga tawo, so it inspired me all the more to work hard, really hard to achieve all the things I dreamed of.”

Upon finishing his radio operator’s course, he was absorbed by the DepEd, thus allowing him to stay for the next six years, or a total of 12 years service, before he decided to take seamanship seriously.

“I was already married at that time to my wife Tessie (Teresita is now the director of the San Roque Child Development School in Yati, Liloan) and the needs of the family were growing, so I had to pursue a seaman’s course as the opportunities overseas are overwhelming,” Munez went on.

He began rendering work onboard an inter-island vessel as radio operator and from there, dropped the idea, later on, to serving just as a radio operator. “Ma-stagnate man ka madugay kay specific man ang area. Though you are onboard a vessel, you only have one area. So I said I have to learn more, acquire new skills. I have to take up Marine Engineering.”

For a time, to meet daily sustenance, he began supplying softdrinks around Liloan. The income was good as he had most of the area covered for lack of stiff competition, but one day while he was reading a piece of newspaper used to pack sugar, he read of a Manila-based shipping firm advertising of a need for a radio operator. “I had to ask a former boss to sign a certificate of employment showing vast experience. Because I had established goodwill with that superior, he asked me if I would like a 10-year service reflected on the paper.”

“Nakuyawan ko kay two years ra man akong experience. The Manila firm specified of a need for a five-year experience, so I asked my boss if pwede’g i-five years lang? It was a bit scarier in Manila during the exam because they tested me as to how immense my knowledge is in ISSB, SSB, aside from the usual Morse Code. Sus, if only you’d seen me, beads of sweat run profusely on my forehead, it was tough and I thought I would never make it. I prayed so hard things would turn out right for me. And the rest is history,” he added.

Independent single sideband and single sideband, by the way, are used in radio transmissions.

His wife used to work for a shipping line in the accounting division, but because Ma’am Tessie’s heart belonged to teaching, she was able to finish a degree in Elementary Education. “Because my wife is a BEEd graduate, we decided to put up a school on a lot we’ve long purchased. It’s very strategic, just along the national road and we thought of seeing such as a long-term investment, not only for our children but for their children too,” Munez, now the president of San Roque Child Development School, said.

“Certainly, you can’t please everybody because the moment we branched out in Dakit, Bogo City, rumors had it we were drug lords. We were mistaken so because of the immediate construction and expansion works on the school. Paita, they have no idea what I went through crisscrossing oceans just to nurture this venture,” he continued.

He shared of those nine times of his near-death experience out on the wild sea. “But there was one I could not explain logically. It really was a matter between the Sto. Niño and me,” he recalled with a chuckle.

He narrated that while the ship was traveling at the English Channel to St. John in Canada, fierce waves battered their vessel. “Sakit kaayo sa ulo. Di na ka kasabot if makabawi pa ba ang barko hampakon sa dagkong bawod. The Sto. Niño that I took along in my journeys got shattered on the floor along with my other things. I had to pick the pieces up and as reconstruction is impossible, I brought the fine pieces to the toilet so I could flush them down. Sus, naunsa ba nga naputol man ang rope sa pultahan sa CR. Kalig-on anang mga pisi sa barko. Maayo god kaayo na pagka-lashing and splice and all, bisan pa nag imong bira-birahon. Nya ang pagkaputol ra ba kay limpiyo kaayo, wala gyoy agi nga kana bitawng morag gihilhil. Because of that the weight of the entire door slammed on me, I was hit hard on the forehead, so I took that as literally a hard-hitting reminder too that the Niño doesn’t want me to flush the powdery pieces down. That no matter how fine those were, He is still with me. So immediately mora kog nahuwasan, nakapangayo kog sorry.”

Today, he is treading on an ocean of more discoveries. The latest is Discovery Hills in Barangay Tilha-ong, Consolacion where he has set up a zipline facility taking inspiration from that in Dahilayan Adventure Park in Bukidnon where a brother-in-law (also a mariner) is a native of. The two-hectare property also features the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross or 14 Stations of the Cross), so come Holy Week, the family along with friends and relatives, and other walk-in guests can contemplate on how amazing God’s grace and love is, as always, through the years.

“I have never ever stopped believing in education,” Munez emphasized. “My parents would often tell me nobody gets rich by merely going to school. But I think the other way. Learning new things and acquiring new skills, come hell or high water, will make us adept with the changing needs of varied industries we become a part of. We must be equipped to meet that need. Hope my story would inspire our youth to go for excellence in everything they pursue. God rewards certainly those who persevere.” (FREEMAN)