Tribute to the lady

The title is a quote from an elaborate invitation sent by couple Raul and Luping Cabahug-Latonio to honor tomorrow the latter’s late mother, Lady Vicenta Labucay Cabahug.

Luping has a way – a knack really – of letting the invitee feel special: “Please come. Without you, it will not be the same”; and further enriched with: “When this was just a dream in my mind, I already knew that you must be there with us”.

The occasion is also the silver founding anniversary of Raul and Luping’s high-quality school – from pre-school to high school – in Consolacion, Cebu, aptly renamed as “Sotero B. Cabahug FORUM for Literacy, Inc.” (the FORUM for short, befitting the “groves of academe” of old).

The couple must have been inspired by their “Mama Tentay” in founding the pre-school “Lady of Mount Carmel” right in the ancestral Cabahug mansion in the heart of Mandaue in Centro.

Next to her beloved husband, Mano Terong Cabahug, and their children, Mana Tentay’s love of music was close to her heart. In fact, she was the pioneer graduate from Colegio dela Inmaculada Concepcion with the baccalaureate degree in Music, major in Piano, with the academic honors as “Sobre-saliente”, or “Summa Cum Laude”.

Aside from attending to her family and partner to her husband as a public servant and civic leader, Mana Tentay was also active in church affairs, including training various church choirs.

It was Mana Tentay who was the prime mover in organizing and training the original “Singing Sons of Mandaue” sometime in the early ‘50s. The “Singing Sons” who used to practice at the Cabahug residence, comprised a cross-section of music-loving Mandauehanons – from the highly educated professionals and students to the less educated, from the very poor to the affluent gentry.

The group photo of the “Singing Sons” shows the faded faces of the “Night Hawks” orchestra core – Dado, Matoy and Cesar; Dado Flores, a guitar whiz; No Andoy Mendoza, Estan Sanchez, Pard Cinco, Berting Ceniza, Densiong Pono, the Joren brothers, Bimbo Suico, Paping Sanchez, Lando Sanchez, et al., many of them have gone to rest.

Na Tentay shepherded the group in many ways. Incidentally, one never heard anyone calling the great lady as “Doña” or “Señora” even when the Castellan influence was still in vogue among the elite in society. She was just simply “Mana Tentay” or “Na Tentay”, or “Tentay” to her peers, but in a tone of respect or deference with a lot of endearment.

Even in youth, one had not heard of airs of the Lady. One’s mother and his elderly aunt, and also Inse Teresa Cabahug, the wife of Uncle Toring Abella – once the tennis champion of Cebu – who was a close kin of the Cabahugs, had anecdotes of how Na Tentay frowned upon any condescending elitism.

 This was the perception of Mandauehanons having dealings with the Lady then, that is, she spontaneously adapted to the bonafide Mandauehanons’ friendly manner and sincere humility. Like her husband, ‘Bay Terong to his contemporaries, or Mano Terong to the younger generations, Mana Tentay was also at home in similar intimacy.

And to think that Mana Tentay belonged to the Labucay family who at that time fitted in affluence and breeding to the elite 200 of Cebu City, and educated in an exclusive school for girls, any other person of lesser character and adaptability could not have made it through.

In all these years, one has never heard any derogatory word about the Lady. No doubt, of all tributes for someone, whether icons, heroes, or ordinary human beings, the highest accolade is the absence of any bad word or deed, or behavior imputed to the honoree.

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