Letter to the Editor - Thank you, Sir Dodong for your love for Cebuano music

Dear Sir Dodong: In behalf of the family of the late Ben Zubiri, please allow me to formally express our deep gratitude for your touching tribute and posthumous awards of recognition for our beloved father which my sister, Elnora, and I received in his behalf in the form of a plaque and cash in the amount of no less than fifty thousand pesos.

There were actually more things that I would have wanted to say in my public response last February 28 at Casino Español. Because of time constraints, however, I had to shorten it. This and partly because of my inexperience at speaking in public, I feel that what I managed to say might not have been sufficient to convey the deep gratitude we have for you for the honor you have accorded the memory of my father in choosing him for his song "Matud Nila" as one of the recipients of the very first set of awards you have reserved for Cebuanos whom you consider worthy of recognition for their valuable contributions to society.

My beloved father, as we recalled during that memorable evening, departed from this world almost four decades ago; yet, we all agree, his masterpiece which has been in existence for seventy years now not only continues to survive but seems to be getting even more popular not only among Cebuanos but among Filipinos as well, both here and abroad. While I agree with mixed pride and humility that "Matud Nila" is truly a beautiful song, I believe that it has endured this far partly because once in a while someone who has a more than ordinary appreciation of our own Cebuano music goes out of his way to take steps to promote and preserve it. I am sure, Sir Dodong, that true-blue Cebuanos are happy to know that you are one such person and more.

As far as we know, you have been the first individual to undertake serious and concrete ways to show your deep love for and pride in Cebuano songs by not only acknowledging and paying tribute, but also by awarding the composers who were inspired to create them in ways that were never expected at all. My father and his associates, Messrs. Vicente Rubi and Mariano Vestil, may no longer be around to enjoy the accolades and the generous awards but our respective families whom these composers of note have left behind, no doubt, are so grateful for the harvest that we have reaped out of what they must have sown without much expectations other than being able to find that people take joy in singing their songs.

It is our hope that your special love for Cebuano music and your gratefulness to the composers will set an example that will lead the Cebuanos, especially the younger ones, to take time to listen, to appreciate, and to cultivate a love for what is our own enough for them to want to pass our rich legacies on to many generations to come. May it further encourage us to look within ourselves and in others the talents and abilities which may just be lying around waiting to be discovered. Then, there will be much more to add to the treasury of Cebuano music for the enjoyment of all.

Than you once again, Sir Dodong, for everything. Indeed, the deep sense of gratitude reflected in your brand of generosity is so heartwarming that it inspires the same in us whose lives you have just touched.

May God bless you and all your laudable undertakings!

(Sgd.) Edwina (Wingwing) Zubiri-Samson